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THE YALE SHAKESPEARE 



Edited by 
Wilbur L. Cross Tucker Brooke 

WlLLARD HlGLEY DURHAM 



Published under the Direction 

of THE 

Department of English, Yale University, 

on the Fund 

Given to the Yale University Press in 1917 

by Members of the 

Kingsley Trust Association 

To Commemorate the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 

of the Founding of the Society 



The Yale Shakespeare 

THE FIRST PART OF 
KING HENRY THE FOURTH 

With the Life and Death of 
Henry, Surnamed Hotspur 



^.X^aJkjuJi^- 



(X x*> 



EDITED BY 

SAMUEL B. HEMINGWAY 




NEW HAVEN • YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON • HUMPHREY MILFORD 
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS • MCMXVII 






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.$> 



Copyright, 1917 
.By Yale University Press 



First published, September, 1917 



SEP 28 1917 



IA476328 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

The Text 1 

Notes . . . . . . .114 

Appendix A. Variants .... 129 

Appendix B. Sources .... 131 

Appendix C. The History of the Play . 136 

Bibliography ...... 141 

Index of Words Glossed .... 142 



The map opposite represents the principal towns, 
rivers, etc., mentioned in "The First Part of King 
Henry the Fourth." 




- TD'EDftlCK5EN =. 



[DRAMATIS PERSONS 

King Henry the Fourth 

Henry, Prince of Wales, ) a . ._ Tr . 

John of Lancaster, ) a 

Earl of Westmoreland 

Sir Walter Blunt 

Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester 

Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland 

Henry Percy surnamed Hotspur, his son 

Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March' 

Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York 

Archibald, Earl of Douglas 

Owen Glendower 

Sir Richard Vernon 

Sir John Falstaff 

Sir Michael, a Friend to the Archbishop of York 

Poins 

Gadshill 

Peto 

Bardolph 

Francis, a Drawer 

Lady Percy, Wife to Hotspur, and Sister to Mortimer 

Lady Mortimer, Daughter to Glendower, and Wife 

to Mortimer 
Mistress Quickly, Hostess of the Boar's Head 

Tavern in Eastcheap 

Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Draw- 
ers, two Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants 



Scene: England.~\ 



The First Part of Henry the Fourth 

Vith the Life and Death of Henry, Surnamed Hotspur 

ACT FIRST 

Scene One 

[London. The Palace] 

Enter the King, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of 
Westmoreland, with others. 

King. So shaken as we are, so wan with care. 
?ind we a time for frighted peace to pant, 
Vnd breathe short-winded accents of new broils 
Co be commenc'd in stronds afar remote. 4 

SFo more the thirsty entrance of this soil 
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood; 
^o more shall trenching war channel her fields, 
tfor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs 8 

3f hostile paces : those opposed eyes, 
•Vhich, like the meteors of a troubled heaven, 
Ul of one nature, of one substance bred, 
)id lately meet in the intestine shock 12 

Vnd furious close of civil butchery, 
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks, 
Vlarch all one way, and be no more oppos'd 
Vgainst acquaintance, kindred, and allies: 16 

rhe edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife, 
So more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends, 

• stronds: coasts 5 Cf. n. 

trenching: trench-digging channel: make channels in 
2 intestine: internal, civil 13 - close : grapple 

4 mutual well-beseeming ranks: ranks which have, most properly, a 
common interest 



The First Part of 



As far as to the sepulchre of Christ, — 

Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross 20 

We are impressed and engag'd to fight, — 

Forthwith a power of English shall we levy/ 

Whose arms were moulded in their mothers' womb 

To chase these pagans in those holy fields 24 

Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet 

Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd 

For our advantage on the bitter cross. 

But this our purpose now is twelve months old, 23 

And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go: 

Therefore we meet not now. Then let me hear 

Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland, 

What yesternight our council did decree 32 

In forwarding this dear expedience. 

West. My liege, this haste was hot in question, 
And many limits of the charge set down 
But yesternight ; when all athwart there came 
A post from Wales loaden with heavy news ; 37 

Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer, 
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight 
Against the irregular and wild Glendower, 40 

Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken, 
A thousand of his people butchered; 
Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse, 
Such beastly shameless transformation 44 

By those Welshwomen done, as may not be 
Without much shame re-told or spoken of. 

King. It seems then that the tidings of this broil 
Brake off our business for the Holy Land. 48 

21 impressed: compelled into service 28 Cf.n. 29 bootless: useless 

33 dear expedience: important expedition 

34 hot in question: in hot debate 35 charge: expense 
36 athwart: from an unexpected quarter 38 Mortimer; cf. n. 
40 irregular : lawless 



King Henry the Fourth, I. i 



West. This, match'd with other, did, my gracious 
lord; 

For more uneven and unwelcome news 
Came from the north and thus it did import: 
On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there, 52 

Young Harry Percy and brave Archibald, 
That ever-valiant and approved Scot, 
At Holmedon met, 

Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour ; 
As by discharge of their artillery, 57 

And shape of likelihood, the news was told ; 
For he that brought them, in the very heat 
And pride of their contention did take horse, 60 

Uncertain of the issue any way. 

King. Here is a dear and true industrious friend, 
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse, 
Stain'd with the variation of each soil 64 

Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours ; 
And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news. 
The Earl of Douglas is discomfited; 
Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, 68 
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see 
On Holmedon's plains : of prisoners Hotspur took 
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son 
To beaten Douglas, and the Earls of Athol, 72 

Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith. 
And is not this an honourable spoil ? 
A gallant prize ? ha, cousin, is it not ? 

West. In faith, 76 

It is a conquest for a prince to boast of. 

King. Yea, there thou mak'st me sad and mak'st 
me sin 

49 match'd: joined 50 uneven: disconcerting 

52 Holy-rood day; cf. n. 53 Harry Percy; cf. n. 

54 approved: well-tried 58 shape of likelihood: probability 

69 balk'd: piled up (?) 71 Mordake; cf. n. 



The First Part of 



In envy that my Lord Northumberland 

Should be the father to so blest a son, 80 

A son who is the theme of honour's tongue; 

Amongst a grove the very straightest plant; 

Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride: 

Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him, 8-1 

See riot and dishonour stain the brow 

Of my young Harry. O ! that it could be prov'd 

That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd 

In cradle-clothes our children where they lay, 88 

And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet. 

Then would I have his Harry, and he mine. 

But let him from my thoughts. What think you, coz, 

Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners, 

Which he in this adventure hath surpris'd, 

To his own use he keeps, and sends me word, 

I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife. 

West. This is his uncle's teaching, this is 
Worcester, 96 

Malevolent to you in all aspects ; 
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up 
The crest of youth against your dignity. 

King. But I have sent for him to answer this ; 100 
And for this cause a while we must neglect 
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem. 
Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we 
Will hold at Windsor ; so inform the lords : 104 

But come yourself with speed to us again; 
For more is to be said and to be done 
Than out of anger can be uttered. 

West. I will, my liege. Exeunt 

83 minion: darling 

91 coz: cousin, used by the sovereign in addressing any nobleman 

91-95 Cf. n. 97 Cf. n. 107 uttered; cf. n. 



' 



I 



King Henry the Fourth, I. ii 



Scene Two 

[The Same] 

Enter Henry, Prince of Wales, and Sir John Falstaff. 

Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? 

Prince. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking 
of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, 
and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou 
hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou 
wouldst truly know. What a devil hast thou to 
do with the time of the day? unless hours were 
cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks 
the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of 
leaping-houses, and the blessed sun himself a 
fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffeta, I see no 
reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to 
demand the time of the day. 13 

Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; 
for we that take purses go by the moon and the 
seven stars, and not by Phoebus, he, 'that wan- 
dering knight so fair.' And, I prithee, sweet 
wag, when thou art king, — as, God save thy 
Grace, — majesty, I should say, for grace thou 
wilt have none, — 20 

Prince. What ! none ? 

Fal. No, by my troth; not so much as will 
serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. 

Prince. Well, how then? come, roundly, 
roundly. 25 

Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art 

3 sack : sweet Spanish wine 9 bawds: panders 

10 leaping-houses: brothels < 16 Cf. n. 19-33 Cf. n. 

24 roundly : plainly, to the point 

26 Marry: an interjection, well; originally an oath, by the Virgin 
Mary 



The First Part of 



king, let not us that are squires of the night's 
body be called thieves of the day's beauty: let 
us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, 
minions of the moon; and let men say, we be 
men of good government, being governed as the 
sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the 
moon, under whose countenance we steal. 33 

Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well 
too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's 
men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being go- 
verned as the sea is, by the moon. As for proof 
now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatched 
on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on 
Tuesday morning; got with swearing 'Lay by;' 
and spent with crying 'Bring in:' now in as 
low an ebb as the foot of the ladder, and by and 
by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. 

Fal. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And 
is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet 
wench ? 46 

Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of 
the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet 
robe of durance? 49 

Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! what, 
in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague 
have I to do with a buff j erkin ? 52 

Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with 
my hostess of the tavern ? 

Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckon- 
ing many a time and oft. 

29 Diana's: the moon's 30 minions : servants 

40 'Lay by' : address of highwaymen to their victims 

41 'Bring in' : a call for wine 

47 honey of Hybla: Sicilian honey lad of the castle; cf. Appendix 

48 buff jerkin: leather jacket worn by sheriff's officers; cf. n. 

49 durance: a stuff noted for its durability 

51 quips: jests quiddities: subtleties, puns 



King Henry the Fourth, I. ii 



Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy 
part ? 

Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast 
paid all there. 60 

Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin 
would stretch; and where it would not, I have 
used my credit. 

Fal. Yea, and so used it that, were it not here 
apparent that thou art heir apparent, — But, I 
prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows stand- 
ing in England when thou art king, and resolu- 
tion thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of 
old father antic the law? Do not thou, when 
thou art king, hang a thief. 70 

Prince. No; thou shalt. 

Fal. Shall I ? O rare ! By the Lord, I'll be a 
brave judge. 73 

Prince. Thou judgest false already; I mean, 
thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves and 
so become a rare hangman. 76 

Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it 
jumps with my humour as well as waiting in 
the court, I can tell you. 

Prince. For obtaining of suits ? 80 

Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the 
hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I 
am as melancholy as a gib cat, or a lugged bear. 

Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. 84 

Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire 
bagpipe. 

67 resolution: determination, boldness 

68 fobbed: tricked 69 antic: buffoon 73 brave: fine 
78 jumps: agrees humour: temperament, inclination 

81 obtaining of suits: the clothes of the criminal were the hangman's 
perquisite 

82 'Sblood: God's blood 

83 gib cat: torn cat lugged bear: bear led by a rope 



The First Part of 



Prince. What sayest thou to a hare, or the 
melancholy of Moor-ditch? 88 

Fal. Thou hast the most unsavory similes, 
and art, indeed, the most comparative, rascal- 
liest, sweet young prince; but, Hal, I prithee, 
trouble me no more with vanity. I would to God 
thou and I knew where a commodity of good 
names were to be bought. An old lord of the 
council rated me the other day in the street about 
you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet he 
talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and 
yet he talked wisely, and in the street too. 98 

Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries 
out in the streets, and no man regards it. 100 

Fal. O ! thou hast damnable iteration, and 
art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast 
done much harm upon me, Hal; God forgive 
thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew 
nothing; and now am I, if a man should speak 
truly, little better than one of the wicked. I 
must give over this life, and I will give it over; 
by the Lord, an I do not, I am a villain: I'll be 
damned for never a king's son in Christendom. 

Prince. Where shall we take a purse to- 
morrow, Jack? ill 

Fal. 'Zounds ! where thou wilt, lad, I'll make 
one; an I do not, call me a villain and baffle me. 

Prince. I see a good amendment of life in 
thee ; from praying to purse-taking. 115 

87 hare; cf. n. < 88 Moor-ditch; cf. n. 

90 comparative: witty, i.e., full of witty comparisons 

93 commodity : supply 101 damnable iteration; cf. n. 

112 'Zounds: God's wounds 

113 baffle: hang by the heels (a punishment inflicted on recreant 
knights) 



Ing Henry the Fourth, I. ii 



Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no 
sin for a man to labour in his vocation. 

Enter Poins. 

Poins ! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set 
a match. O ! if men were to be saved by merit, 
what hole in hell were hot enough for him ? This 
is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried 
'Stand !' to a true man. 122 

Prince. Good morrow, Ned. 

Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says 
Monsieur Remorse? What says Sir John Sack- 
and-Sugar ? Jack ! how agrees the devil and thee 
about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good- 
Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold 
capon's leg? 129 

Prince. Sir John stands to his word, the devil 
shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a 
breaker of proverbs : he will give the devil his due. 

Poins. Then art thou damned for keeping thy 
word with the devil. 

Prince. Else he had been damned for cozen- 
ing the devil. 136 

Poins. But my lads, my lads, to-morrow 
morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! 
There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with 
rich offerings, and traders riding to London with 
fat purses: I have vizards for you all; you have 
horses for yourselves. Gadshill lies to-night in 
Rochester; I have bespoke supper to-morrow 
night in Eastcheap: we may do it as secure as 
sleep. If you will go I will stuff your purses full 

8 Gadshill; cf. n. set a match: planned a robbery 

15 cozening: cheating 141 vizards: masks 144 Eastcheap; cf. n. 



io 'The First Part o 



of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home and be 
hanged. 14 

Fal. Hear ye, Yedward: if I tarry at home 
and go not, I'll hang you for going. 

Poins. You will, chops? 

Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one? 

Prince. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my J 
faith. 153 

Fal. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor j 
good fellowship in thee, nor thou earnest not of 1 
the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten 
shillings. 15T 

Prince. Well, then, once in my days I'll be a 
madcap. 

Fal. Why, that's well said. l 

Prince. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at 
home. 

Fal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when 
thou art king. 164 

Prince. I care not. 

Poins. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince 
and me alone: I will lay him down such reasons 
for this adventure that he shall go. 16J 

Fal. Well, God give thee the spirit of per- 
suasion and him the ears of profiting, that what 
thou speakest may move, and what he hears 
may be believed, that the true prince may, for 
recreation sake, prove a false thief; for the poor 
abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: 
you shall find me in Eastcheap. 171 

Prince. Farewell, thou latter spring! Fare- 
well, All-hallown summer! [Exit Falstaff.] 

150 chops: fat face 

177 All-hallown summer: All Saints' summer; cf. n. 



King Henry the Fourth, I. ii 1 1 

Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride 
with us to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that 
I cannot manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, 
Peto, and Gadshill shall rob those men that we 
have already waylaid; yourself and I will not be 
there; and when they have the booty, if you 
and I do not rob them, cut this head from my 
shoulders. 185 

Prince. But how shall we part with them in 
setting forth? 

Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after 
them, and appoint them a place of meeting, 
wherein it is at our pleasure to fail; and then 
will they adventure upon the exploit themselves, 
which they shall have no sooner achieved but 
we'll set upon them. 193 

Prince. Yea, but 'tis like that they will know 
us by our horses, by our habits, and by every 
other appointment, to be ourselves. 196 

Poins. Tut ! our horses they shall not see, 
I'll tie them in the wood; our vizards we will 
change after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have 
cases of buckram for the nonce, to inmask our 
noted outward garments. 201 

Prince. Yea, but I doubt they will be too 
hard for us. 

Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them 
to be as true-bred cowards as ever turned back; 
and for the third, if he fight longer than he sees 
reason, I'll forswear arms. The virtue of this 
jest will be, the incomprehensible lies that this 

195 habits: clothes 196 appointment: equipment 199 sirrah; cf. n. 

200 cases of buckram: cloaks of coarse linen for the nonce: for the 
occasion 

201 noted: well-known 206 the third; cf. n. 



12 The First Part of-% 

same fat rogue will tell us when we meet at 
supper: how thirty, at least, he fought with; 
what wards, what blows, what extremities he 
endured; and in the reproof of this lies the jest. 
Prince. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us 
all things necessary and meet me to-morrow 
night in Eastcheap; there I'll sup. Farewell. 

Poins. Farewell, my lord. Exit Poins. 

Prince. I know you all, and will awhile uphold 217 
The unyok'd humour of your idleness : 
Yet herein will I imitate the sun, 
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds 
To smother up his beauty from the world, 221 

That when he please again to be himself, 
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, 
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists 
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him. 225 

If all the year were playing holidays, 
To sport would be as tedious as to work ; 
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come, 
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. 229 

So, when this loose behaviour I throw off, 
And pay the debt I never promised, 
By how much better than my word I am 232 

By so much shall I falsify men's hopes ; 
And like bright metal on a sullen ground, 
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, 
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes 
Than that which hath no foil to set it off. 237 

I'll so offend to make offence a skill ; 
Redeeming time when men think least I will. Exit. 

211 wards: guards in fencing 212 reproof : refutat ion 

218 unyok'd humour: unrestrained caprices 

220 contagious: pestilential 229 accidents: events 234 sullen: dull 



ting Henry the Fourth, I. Hi 13 



Scene Three 

[The Same] 

Inter the King, Northumberland, Worcester, Hotspur, 
Sir Walter Blunt, and others. 

King. My blood hath been too cold and temperate, 
Jnapt to stir at these indignities, 
Lnd you have found me; for accordingly 
Tou tread upon my patience : but, be sure, 4 

will from henceforth rather be myself, 
Eighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition, 
Vhich hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down, 
lnd therefore lost that title of respect 8 

Vhich the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud. 

Wor. Our house, my sovereign liege, little deserves 
The scourge of greatness to be us'd on it; 
\jid that same greatness too which our own hands 12 
Have holp to make so portly. 

North. My lord, — 

King. Worcester, get thee gone; for I do see 
Danger and disobedience in thine eye. 16 

D, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory, 
A.nd majesty might never yet endure 
The moody frontier of a servant brow. 
You have good leave to leave us ; when we need 
Your use and counsel we shall send for you. 21 

Exit Worcester. 
To Northumberland.'] You were about to speak. 

North. Yea, my good lord. 
Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded, 
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took, 24 

3 found me: guessed my character 6 condition: natural disposition 

13 portly: stately 

19 moody: angry frontier: the outworks of a fort, used figuratively 



14- The First Part 0] 

Were, as he says, not with such strength denied 
As is deliver'd to your majesty: 
Either envy, therefore, or misprision 
Is guilty of this fault and not my son. 

Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners : 
But I remember, when the fight was done, 
When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, 
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword, 
Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd, 
Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin, new reap'd, 
Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home: 
He was perfumed like a milliner, 36 

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held 
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon 
He gave his nose and took't away again ; 
Who therewith angry, when it next came there, 40 
Took it in snuff: and still he smil'd and talk'd; 
And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by, 
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly, 
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corpse 
Betwixt the wind and his nobility. 
With many holiday and lady terms 
He question'd me ; among the rest, demanded 
My prisoners in your majesty's behalf. 48 

I then all smarting with my wounds being cold, 
To be so pester'd with a popinjay, 
Out of my grief and my impatience 
Answer'd neglectingly, I know not what, 
He should, or he should not ; for he made me mad 
To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet 
And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman 

26 deliver'd: reported 27 misprision : misapprehension 

36 milliner; cf. n. 38 pouncet-box: a perforated box for perfumes 

41 in snuff: as an offence (with play on the word snuff) 

46 holiday and lady terms: choice and ladylike expressions 

50 popinjay: parrot 51 grief : pain 



Cing Henry the Fourth, I. Hi is 

)£ guns, and drums, and wounds, — God save the 
mark ! — 56 

aid telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth 

Vas parmaceti for an inward bruise; 

Lnd that it was great pity, so it was, 
his villainous saltpetre should be digg'd 60 

)ut of the bowels of the harmless earth, 

Vhich many a good tall fellow had destroy'd 

>o cowardly; and but for these vile guns, 

le would himself have been a soldier. 64 

This bald unj ointed chat of his, my lord, 
answer'd indirectly, as I said; 

bid I beseech you, let not his report 

"ome current for an accusation 68 

3etwixt my love and your high majesty. 
Blunt. The circumstance consider'd, good my lord, 

What e'er Lord Harry Percy then had said 

To such a person and in such a place, 72 

^t such a time, with all the rest re-told, 

May reasonably die and never rise 

To do him wrong, or any way impeach 

What then he said, so he unsay it now. 76 

King. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners, 
iBut with proviso and exception, 
That we at our own charge shall ransom straight 
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer; 80 

Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd 
The lives of those that he did lead to fight 
Against that great magician, damn'd Glendower, 
Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March 

56 God save the mark; cf. n. 

57 sovereign'st: of most supreme excellence 

58 parmaceti: corrupted form of spermaceti, a substance found in 
whale-oil 

62 tall: valiant 75 impeach: call in question 

80 brother-in-law; cf. n. on 11. 145-6 84 Earl of March: Mortimer 



16 The First Part o 

Hath lately married. Shall our coffers then 8 

Be emptied to redeem a traitor home? 

Shall we buy treason, and indent with fears, 

When they have lost and forfeited themselves ? 

No, on the barren mountains let him starve; 8 

For I shall never hold that man my friend 

Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost 

To ransom home revolted Mortimer. 9: 

Hot. Revolted Mortimer! 
He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, 
But by the chance of war: to prove that true 
Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds, 90 
Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took, 
When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank, 
In single opposition, hand to hand, 
He did confound the best part of an hour 100 

In changing hardiment with great Glendower. 
Three times they breath'd and three times did theyi 

drink, 
Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood, 
Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, 104 

Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, 
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank 
Blood-stained with these valiant combatants. 
Never did base and rotten policy 108 

Colour her working with such deadly wounds ; 
Nor never could the noble Mortimer 
Receive so many, and all willingly: 
Then let him not be slander'd with revolt. 112 

King. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost 
belie him: 
He never did encounter with Glendower: 

87 indent: bargain 94 fall off: desert 100 confound: consume 

101 changing hardiment: exchanging valour 

106 crisp: curled, i.e., rippled 109 Colour: disguise 



King Henry the Fourth, I. Hi 17 

I tell thee, 

He durst as well have met the devil alone 116 

As Owen Glendower for an enemy. 
Art thou not asham'd? But, sirrah, henceforth 
Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer: 
Send me your prisoners with the speediest means, 120 
Or you shall hear in such a kind from me 
As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland, 
We license your departure with your son. 
Send us your prisoners, or you will hear of it. 124 

Exit King [with Blunt and train~\. 

Hot. An if the devil come and roar for them, 
I will not send them: I will after straight 
And tell him so; for I will ease my heart, 
Albeit I make a hazard of my head. 128 

North. What! drunk with choler? stay, and pause 
awhile : 
Here comes your uncle. 

Enter Worcester. 

Hot. Speak of Mortimer ! 

'Zounds ! I will speak of him ; and let my soul 
Want mercy if I do not join with him: 132 

In his behalf I'll empty all these veins, 
And shed my dear blood drop by drop i' the dust, 
But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer 
As high i' the air as this unthankful king, 136 

As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke. 

North. Brother, the king hath made your nephew 
mad. 

Wor. Who struck this heat up after I was gone? 

Hot. He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners; 

121 kind: way 125 An if: even if 126 straight: immediately 

128 Albeit . . . hazard: though at the risk 

129 choler: anger 137 canker'd: malignant Bolingbroke; cf. n. 



is The First Part of 



And when I urg'd the ransom once again 141 

Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale, 
And on my face he turn'd an eye of death, 
Trembling even at the name of Mortimer. 144 

Wor. I cannot blame him: was he not proclaim'd 
By Richard that dead is the next of blood? 

North. He was; I heard the proclamation: 
And then it was when the unhappy king, — 148 

Whose wrongs in us God pardon ! — did set forth 
Upon his Irish expedition; 
From whence he, intercepted, did return 
To be depos'd, and shortly murdered. 152 

Wor. And for whose death we in the world's wide 
mouth 
Live scandaliz'd and foully spoken of. 

Hot. But, soft ! I pray you, did King Richard then 
Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer 156 

Heir to the crown? 

North. He did; myself did hear it. 

Hot. Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king, 
That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve. 
But shall it be that you, that set the crown 160 

Upon the head of this forgetful man, 
And for his sake wear the detested blot 
Of murd'rous subornation, shall it be, 
That you a world of curses undergo, 164 

Being the agents, or base second means, 
The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather ? 
O! pardon me that I descend so low, 
To show the line and the predicament 168 

Wherein you range under this subtle king. 

145-146 Cf.n. 149 in us: at our hands 

163 murd'rous subornation: secret prompting to murder 

168 line: rank predicament: situation, classification 

169 range: stand 






King Henry the Fourth, I. Hi 19 

Shall it for shame be spoken in these days, 

Or fill up chronicles in time to come, 

That men of your nobility and power, 172 

Did gage them both in an unjust behalf, 

As both of you — God pardon it ! — have done, 

To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose, 

And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke? 

And shall it in more shame be further spoken, 

That you are fool'd, discarded, and shook off 

By him for whom these shames ye underwent? 

No ; yet time serves wherein you may redeem 180 

Your banish'd honours, and restore yourselves 

Into the good thoughts of the world again; 

Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt 

Of this proud king, who studies day and night 

To answer all the debt he owes to you, 185 

Even with the bloody payment of your deaths. 

Therefore, I say, — 

Wor. Peace, cousin! say no more: 

And now I will unclasp a secret book, 188 

And to your quick-conceiving discontents 
I'll read you matter deep and dangerous, 
As full of peril and adventurous spirit 
As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud, 192 

On the unsteadfast footing of a spear. 

Hot. If he fall in, good night! or sink or swim: 
Send danger from the east unto the west, 
So honour cross it from the north to south, 196 

And let them grapple : O ! the blood more stirs 
To rouse a lion than to start a hare. 

North. Imagination of some great exploit 
Drives him beyond the bounds of patience. 200 

173 gage them: pledge themselves 

176 canker: dog-rose 183 disdain'd: disdainful 



20 The First Part of 

Hot. By heaven methinks it were an easy leap 
To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon, 
Or dive into the bottom of the deep, 
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground, 204 
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks ; 
So he that doth redeem her thence might wear 
Without corrival all her dignities: 
But out upon this half-fac'd fellowship ! 208 

Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here, 
But not the form of what he should attend. 
Good cousin, give me audience for a while. 

Hot. I cry you mercy. 

Wor. Those same noble Scots 212 

That are your prisoners, — 

Hot. I'll keep them all; 

By God, he shall not have a Scot of them: 
No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not: 
I'll keep them, by this hand. 

Wor. You start away, 216 

And lend no ear unto my purposes. 
Those prisoners you shall keep. 

Hot. Nay, I will; that's flat: 

He said he would not ransom Mortimer; 
Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer ; 220 

But I will find him when he lies asleep, 
And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer !' 
Nay, 

I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak 224 

Nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him, 
To keep his anger still in motion. 

Wor. Hear you, cousin; a word. 

207 corrival: rival 208 half-fac'd: half and half 

209 apprehends : imagines figures', unpractical fancies 

212 cry you mercy: beg your pardon 

224 starling: a bird with remarkable powers of mimicry 



King Henry the Fourth, I, Hi 21 

Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy, 228 

Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke : 
And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales, 
But that I think his father loves him not, 
A.nd would be glad he met with some mischance, 
I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale. 233 

Wor. Farewell, kinsman: I will talk to you 
When you are better temper'd to attend. 

North. Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient 

fool 236 

&rt thou to break into this woman's mood, 
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own ! 

Hot. Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourg'd 
with rods, 

Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear 
Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke. 241 

[n Richard's time, — what do ye call the place? — 
\ plague upon 't — it is in Gloucestershire ; — 
Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept, 
His uncle York ; where I first bow'd my knee 
Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke, 
Sblood ! 
When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh. 

North. At Berkeley Castle. 249 

Hot. You say true. 
Why, what a candy deal of courtesy 
This fawning greyhound then did proffer me ! 
Look, 'when his infant fortune came to age,' 253 

\nd 'gentle Harry Percy,' and 'kind cousin.' 
3 ! the devil take such cozeners. God forgive me ! 

ood uncle, tell your tale, for I have done. 256 

!28 defy: renounce 
30 sword and buckler: arms carried by the lower classes; hence, 

ruffianly 
540 pismires: ants 244 kept: lived 245 York; cf. n. 

!51 candy deal: sugary lot 255 cozeners: swindlers 



22 The First Part of 

Wor. Nay, if you have not, to 't again ; 
We'll stay your leisure. 

Hot. I have done, i' faith. 

Wor. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners, 
Deliver them up without their ransom straight, 
And make the Douglas' son your only mean 261: 

For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons 
Which I shall send you written, be assur'd, 
Will easily be granted. [To Northumberland.] You, 
my lord, 264 

Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd, 
Shall secretly into the bosom creep 
Of that same noble prelate well belov'd, 
The Archbishop. 268 S 

Hot. Of York, is it not ? 

Wor. True; who bears hard 
His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop. 
I speak not this in estimation, 272'. 

As what I think might be, but what I know 
Is ruminated, plotted and set down ; 
And only stays but to behold the face 
Of that occasion that shall bring it on. 276( 

Hot. I smell it. 
Upon my life it will do wondrous well. 

North. Before the game's afoot thou still lett'sti 
slip. 

Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot: 280 
And then the power of Scotland and of York, 
To join with Mortimer, ha? 

Wor. And so they shall. 

Hot. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd. 

Wor. And 'tis no little reason bids us speed, 

258 stay: await 271 Scroop; cf. n. 272 estimation: conjecture 

279 still: always lett'st slip: art letting the hounds loose from the 

leash 



King Henry the Fourth, II. i 23 

To save our heads by raising of a head; 285 

For, bear ourselves as even as we can, 

The king will always think him in our debt, 

fVnd think we think ourselves unsatisfied, 288 

Till he hath found a time to pay us home. 

'Vnd see already how he doth begin 

To make us strangers to his looks of love. 

Hot. He does, he does: we'll be reveng'd on 
him. 292 

Wor. Cousin, farewell: no further go in this, 
Than I by letters shall direct your course. 
When time is ripe, — which will be suddenly, — 
['11 steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer ; 296 

Where you and Douglas and our powers at once, — 
\s I will fashion it, — shall happily meet, 
To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms, 
Which now we hold at much uncertainty. 300 

North. Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive, I 
trust. 

Hot. Uncle, adieu : O ! let the hours be short, 
Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport! 

Exeunt. 

ACT SECOND 

Scene One 

[Rochester. An Inn-Yard] 

Enter a Carrier, with a lantern in his hand. 

First Car. Heigh-ho ! An 't be not four by 
the day I'll be hanged: Charles' Wain is over 
the new chimney, and yet our horse not packed. 
What, ostler! 4 

85 head: army 286 even: prudently 293 cousin: kinsman 

98 happily: perchance, if all goes well 2 Charles' Wain; cf. n. 



24 The First Part of A 

Ost. [within.'] Anon, anon. 

First Car. I prithee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, 
put a few flocks in the point: the poor jade is 
wrung in the withers out of all cess. 8 

Enter another Carrier. 

Sec. Car. Peas and beans are as dank here as 
a dog, and that is the next way to give poor 
jades the bots; this house is turned upside down 
since Robin Ostler died. 12 

First Car. Poor fellow! never joyed since the 
price of oats rose; it was the death of him. 

Sec. Car. I think this be the most villainous 
house in all London road for fleas: I am stung 
like a tench. 17 

First Car. Like a tench ! by the mass, there 
is ne'er a king christen could be better bit than 
I have been since the first cock. 20 

Sec. Car. Why, they will allow us ne'er a 
Jordan, and then we leak in the chimney; and 
your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach. 

First Car. What, ostler ! come away and be 
hanged, come away. 25 

Sec. Car. I have a gammon of bacon and 
two razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as 
Charing-cross. 28 

First Car. Godsbody ! the turkeys in my 
pannier are quite starved. What, ostler ! A 
plague on thee! hast thou never an eye in thy 

6 Cut: slang name for a horse with a docked tail 

7 flocks: tufts of wool point: head of the saddle 

8 wrung: galled withers: neck out of all cess: beyond all 
reckoning 

9 dank: mouldy 10 next: most direct, surest 
11 bots: disease of horses caused by worms 17 tench; cf. «.• 
19 king christen: Christian king 22 Jordan: chamber-pot 
23 chamber-lie: urine loach: a fish that breeds several times a year 
27 razes: roots 28 Charing-cross; cf. n. I 



King Henry the Fourth, II. i 25 

head? canst not hear? An 'twere not as good a 
deed as drink to break the pate on thee, I am a 
very villain. Come, and be hanged! hast no 
faith in thee? 

Enter Gadshill. 

Gads. Good morrow, carriers. What's o'clock ? 

First Car. I think it be two o'clock. 37 

Gads. I prithee, lend me thy lantern, to see 
my gelding in the stable. 

First Car. Nay, by God, soft: I know a 
trick worth two of that, i' faith. 41 

Gads. I prithee, lend me thine. 

Sec. Car. Ay, when? canst tell? Lend me 
thy lantern, quoth a'? marry, I'll see thee 
hanged first. 45 

Gads. Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean 
to come to London? 

Sec. Car. Time enough to go to bed with a 
candle, I warrant thee. Come, neighbour Mugs, 
we'll call up the gentlemen: they will along 
with company, for they have great charge. 

Exeunt [Carriers]. Enter Chamberlain. 

Gads. What, ho ! chamberlain ! 52 

Cham. 'At hand, quoth pick-purse.' 

Gads. That's even as fair as, 'at hand, quoth 
the chamberlain' ; for thou variest no more from 
picking of purses than giving direction doth 
from labouring ; thou layest the plot how. 57 

Cham. Good morrow, Master Gadshill. It 
holds current that I told you yesternight: there's 
a franklin in the wild of Kent hath brought 

51 charge: baggage 52 chamberlain: servant in charge of chambers 

59 holds current: proves true 

60 franklin: freeholder wild.: weald, uncultivated country 



26 The First Part of 

three hundred marks with him in gold: I heard 
him tell it to one of his company last night at 
supper; a kind of auditor; one that hath abun- 
dance of charge too, God knows what. They are 
up already and call for eggs and butter: they 
will away presently. 

Gads. Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint 
Nicholas' clerks, I'll give thee this neck. 68 

Cham. No, I'll none of it: I prithee, keep 
that for the hangman; for I know thou wor- 
ship'st Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of 
falsehood may. 72 

Gads. What talkest thou to me of the 
hangman? If I hang I'll make a fat pair of 
gallows; for if I hang, old Sir John hangs with 
me, and thou knowest he's no starveling. Tut ! 
there are other Troyans that thou dreamest not 
of, the which for sport sake are content to do 
the profession some grace ; that would, if matters 
should be looked into, for their own credit sake 
make all whole. I am joined with no foot-land- 
rakers, no long-staff sixpenny strikers, none of 
these mad mustachio-purple-hued malt worms; 
but with nobility and tranquillity, burgomasters 
and great oneyers, such as can hold in, such as 
will strike sooner than speak, and speak sooner 
than drink, and drink sooner than pray: and 
yet I lie; for they pray continually to their 
saint, the commonwealth; or, rather, not pray 
to her, but prey on her, for they ride up and 
down on her and make her their boots. 

61 mark: 13s. 4d., about $3.35 67 St. Nicholas* clerks: thieves; cf. n. 

77 Troyans: a cant name for rioters and thieves 

81 foot-land-rakers, etc.; cf. n. 91 boots: booty 



King Henry the Fourth, II. ii 2 ? 

Cham. What! the commonwealth their 
boots ? will she hold out water in foul way ? 93 

Gads. She will, she will; justice hath liquored 
her. We steal as in a castle, cock-sure; we have 
the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible. 96 

Cham. Nay, by my faith, I think you are 
more beholding to the night than to fern-seed 
for your walking invisible. 

Gads. Give me thy hand: thou shalt have a 
share in our purchase, as I am a true man. 101 

Cham. Nay, rather let me have it, as you are 
false thief. 

Gads. Go to; homo is a common name to all 
men. Bid the ostler bring my gelding out of 
the stable. Farewell, you muddy knave. 106 

[Exeunt. 

Scene Two 

[Gadshill. The highway] 

Enter Prince, Poins, and Peto. 

Poins. Come, shelter, shelter: I have re- 
moved Falstaff's horse, and he frets like a 
gummed velvet. 

Prince. Stand close. 4 

Enter Falstaff. 

Fal. Poins ! Poins, and be hanged ! Poins ! 
Prince. Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal! What 
a brawling dost thou keep ! 

Fal. Where's Poins, Hal? 8 

94 liquored; cf. n. 95 as in a castle: in perfect security 

96 receipt of fern-seed; cf. n. 98 beholding: obliged 

101 purchase: plunder 3 gummed velvet; cf. n. 4 close: out of sight 



28 The First Part of 

Prince. He is walked up to the top of the 
hill: I'll go seek him. [Withdraws.] 

Fal. I am accursed to rob in that thief's 
company; the rascal hath removed my horse 
and tied him I know not where. If I travel but 
four foot by the squire further afoot I shall 
break my wind. Well, I doubt not but to die a 
fair death for all this, if I 'scape hanging for 
killing that rogue. I have forsworn his company 
hourly any time this two-and-twenty years, 
and yet I am bewitched with the rogue's com- 
pany. If the rascal have not given me medicines 
to make me love him, I'll be hanged: it could 
not be else: I have drunk medicines. Poins ! 
Hal! a plague upon you both! Bardolph ! 
Peto! I'll starve ere I'll rob a foot further. An 
'twere not as good a deed as drink to turn true 
men and leave these rogues, I am the veriest 
varlet that ever chewed with a tooth. Eight 
yards of uneven ground is threescore and ten 
miles afoot with me, and the stony-hearted 
villains know it well enough. A plague upon 't 
when thieves cannot be true one to another ! 

They whistle. 
Whew! A plague upon you all! Give me my 
horse, you rogues; give me my horse and be 
hanged. 34 

Prince. [Coming forward.] Peace, ye fat- 
guts ! lie down : lay thine ear close to the 
ground, and list if thou canst hear the tread 
of travellers. 38 

Fal. Have you any levers to lift me up again, 
being down? 'Sblood! I'll not bear mine own 

14 squire: foot-rule 20 medicines: love potions 



King Henry the Fourth, II. ii 29 

flesh so far afoot again for ail the coin in thy 
father's exchequer. What a plague mean ye to 
colt me thus ? 

Prince. Thou liest: thou art not colted; thou 
art uncolted. 45 

Fal. I prithee, good Prince Hal, help me to 
my horse, good king's son. 

Prince. Out, you rogue ! shall I be your ostler? 

Fal. Go, hang thyself in thine own heir appa- 
rent garters ! If I be ta'en I'll peach for this. An 
I have not ballads made on you all, and sung to 
filthy tunes, let a cup of sack be my poison: when 
a jest is so forward, and afoot too! I hate it. 53 

Enter Gadshill [and Bardolph]. 

Gads. Stand. 

Fal. So I do, against my will. 

Poins. O! 'tis our setter: I know his voice. 
Bardolph, what news? 57 

Bard. Case ye, case ye ; on with your vizards : 
there's money of the king's coming down the 
hill; 'tis going to the king's exchequer. 60 

Fal. You lie, you rogue; 'tis going to the 
king's tavern. 

Gads. There's enough to make us all. 

Fal. To be hanged. 64 

Prince. Sirs, you four shall front them in the 
narrow lane; Ned Poins and I will walk lower: 
if they 'scape from your encounter then they 
light on us. 68 

Peto. How many be there of them? 

Gads. Some eight or ten. 

43 colt: make a fool of 50 peach: turn informer 53 forward: bold 
56 setter: the one who set the match; cf. I. ii. 118 
58 Case ye: put on your masks 



30 The First Part of 

Fal. 'Zounds ! will they not rob us ? 

Prince. What! a coward, Sir John Paunch? 

Fal. Indeed, I am not John of Gaunt, your 
grandfather; but yet no coward, Hal. 74 

Prince. Well, we leave that to the proof. 

Poins. Sirrah Jack, thy horse stands behind 
the hedge: when thou needst him there thou 
shalt find him. Farewell, and stand fast. 

[Prince and Poins withdraw.'] 

Fal. Now cannot I strike him if I should be 
hanged. 80 

Prince. Ned, where are our disguises? 

Poins. Here, hard by ; stand close. 

Fal. Now my masters, happy man be his 
dole, say I : every man to his business. 85 

Enter Travellers. 

First Trav. Come, neighbour ; the boy shall 
lead our horses down the hill; we'll walk afoot 
awhile, and ease our legs. 88 

Thieves. Stand! 

Travellers. Jesu bless us ! 

Fal. Strike; down with them; cut the vil- 
lains' throats : ah ! whoreson caterpillars ! bacon- 
fed knaves ! they hate us youth : down with 
them; fleece them. 

Travellers. O ! we are undone, both we and 
ours for ever. 96 

Fal. Hang ye, gorbellied knaves, are ye un- 
done? No, ye fat chuffs; I would your store 
were here! On, bacons, on! What! ye knaves, 

75 proof: test 

84 happy man be his dole: happiness be his portion, or, luck be with us 

92 whoreson: miserable 97 gorbellied: fat-paunched 

98 chuffs: misers 99 bacons: rustics 



King Henry the Fourth, II. ii 31 

young men must live. You are grand- jurors 
are ye? We'll jure ye, i' faith. 101 

Here they rob them and bind them. Exeunt. 
Enter the Prince and Poins. 

Prince. The thieves have bound the true men. 
Now could thou and I rob the thieves and go 
merrily to London, it would be argument for a 
week, laughter for a month, and a good jest for 
ever. 106 

Poins. Stand close; I hear them coming. 

Enter the thieves again. 

Fal. Come, my masters; let us share, and 

then to horse before day. An the Prince and 

Poins be not two arrant cowards, there's no 

equity stirring: there's no more valour in that 

Poins than in a wild duck. 112 

Prince. Your money ! 

Poins. Villains ! 

As they are sharing, the Prince and Poins set 
upon them. They all run away; and FaU 
staff, after a blow or two, runs away too, 
leaving the booty behind them. 

Prince. Got with much ease. Now merrily to horse: 
The thieves are scatter'd and possess'd with fear 
So strongly that they dare not meet each other; 
Each takes his fellow for an officer. 
Away, good Ned. Falstaff sweats to death 
And lards the lean earth as he walks along: 120 

Were 't not for laughing I should pity him. 

Poins. How the rogue roar'd ! Exeunt. 

101 jure: a verb of Falstaff's own making 
104 argument: subject for conversation 



The First Part of 



Scene Three 

[Warkworth Castle~] 

Enter Hotspur, solus, reading a letter. 

"But for mine own part, my lord, I could be 
well contented to be there, in respect of the love 
I bear your house." 

He could be contented; why is he not then? In 
respect of the love he bears our house: he shows 
in this he loves his own barn better than he 
loves our house. Let me see some more. 

"The purpose you undertake is dangerous ; — " 8 
Why, that's certain: 'tis dangerous to take a 
cold, to sleep, to drink; but I tell you, my lord 
fool, out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this 
flower, safety. 12 

"The purpose you undertake is dangerous ; the 
friends you have named uncertain ; the time itself 
unsorted; and your whole plot too light for the 
counterpoise of so great an opposition." 16 

Say you so, say you so? I say unto you again, 
you are a shallow cowardly hind, and you lie. 
What a lack-brain is this ! By the Lord, our plot 
is a good plot as ever was laid; our friends true 
and constant: a good plot, good friends, and full 
of expectation; an excellent plot, very good 
friends. What a frosty-spirited rogue is this ! 
Why, my Lord of York commends the plot and 
the general course of the action. 'Zounds ! an 
I were now by this rascal, I could brain him 
with his lady's fan. Is there not my father, my 
uncle, and myself? Lord Edmund Mortimer, my 

1 Cf.n. 15 unsorted: ill-chosen 18 hind: servant, slave 



King Henry the Fourth, II. Hi 33 

Lord of York, and Owen Glendower? Is there 
not besides the Douglas? Have I not all their 
letters to meet me in arms by the ninth of the 
next month, and are they not some of them set 
forward already ? What a pagan rascal is this ! 
an infidel ! Ha ! you shall see now in very sin- 
cerity of fear and cold heart, will he to the king 
and lay open all our proceedings. O ! I could 
divide myself and go to buffets, for moving such 
a dish of skim milk with so honourable an 
action. Hang him! let him tell the king; we 
are prepared. I will set forward to-night. 40 

Enter his Lady. 
How now, Kate! I must leave you within these two 
hours. 
Lady P. O, my good lord ! why are you thus alone ? 
For what offence have I this fortnight been 
A banish'd woman from my Harry's bed? 44 

Tell me, sweet lord, what is 't that takes from thee 
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep? 
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth, 
And start so often when thou sitt'st alone? 48 

Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks, 
And given my treasures and my rights of thee 
To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy ? 
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch'd, 52 

And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars, 
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed, 
Cry, 'Courage ! to the field !' And thou hast talk'd 
Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents, 56 

Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets, 

37 divide myself; cf. n. 

41 Kate; c/.n. 46 stomach: appetite 50-51 Cf.n. 

51 curst: perverse 54 manage: direction 56 retires: retreats 

57 palisadoes: sharp stakes driven into the ground as defence against 
cavalry frontiers: outworks; cf. I. Hi. 19 



34 The First Part of 

Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin, 

Of prisoners' ransom, and of soldiers slain, 

And all the currents of a heady fight. 60 

Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war, 

And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep, 

That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow, 

Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream; 64 

And in thy face strange motions have appear'd, 

Such as we see when men restrain their breath 

On some great sudden hest. O ! what portents are 

these ? 
Some heavy business hath my lord in hand, 68 

And I must know it, else he loves me not. 

Hot. What, ho! [Enter Servant.] Is Gilliams 
with the packet gone? 

Serv. He is, my lord, an hour ago. 

Hot. Hath Butler brought those horses from the 
sheriff ? 72 

Serv. One horse, ray lord, he brought even now. 

Hot. What horse? a roan, a crop-ear, is it not? 

Serv. It is, my lord. 

Hot. That roan shall be my throne. 

Well, I will back him straight: O, Esperance! 
Bid Butler lead him forth into the park. 

[Exit Servant.] 

Lady P. But hear you, my lord. 

Hot. What sayst thou, my lady? 

Lady P. What is it carries you away ? 80 

Hot. Why, my horse, my love, my horse. 

Lady P. Out, you mad-headed ape ! 
A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen 
As you are toss'd with. In faith, 84 

58 basilisks; cf. n. 60 currents: occurrences heady: headlong 

67 hest: command 

76 Esperance : the motto of the Percy family 83 spleen: caprice 



King Henry the Fourth, II. Hi 35 

I'll know your business, Harry, that I will. 

I fear my brother Mortimer doth stir 

About his title, and hath sent for you 

To line his enterprise. But if you go — 88 

Hot. So far afoot, I shall be weary love. 

Lady P. Come, come, you paraquito, answer me 
Directly unto this question that I ask. 
In faith, I'll break thy little finger, Harry, 92 

An if thou wilt not tell me all things true. 

Hot. Away, 
Away, you trifler ! Love ! I love thee not, 
I care not for thee, Kate : this is no world 96 

To play with mammets and to tilt with lips : 
We must have bloody noses and crack'd crowns, 
And pass them current too. God's me, my horse ! 
What sayst thou, Kate? what wouldst thou have 
with me? 100 

Lady P. Do you not love me? do you not, indeed? 
Well, do not, then ; for since you love me not, 
I will not love myself. Do you not love me? 
Nay, tell me if you speak in jest or no. 104 

Hot. Come, wilt thou see me ride? 
And when I am o' horseback, I will swear 
I love thee infinitely. But hark you, Kate ; 
I must not have you henceforth question me 108 

Whither I go, nor reason whereabout. 
Whither I must, I must ; and, to conclude, 
This evening must I leave you, gentle Kate. 
I know you wise; but yet no further wise 112 

Than Harry Percy's wife: constant you are, 
But yet a woman: and for secrecy, 
No lady closer ; for I well believe 
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know ; 

88 line: strengthen 97 mammets: dolls 98 crack'd crowns; cf. n. 



36 The First Part of 

And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate. 117 

Lady P. How ! so far ? 

Hot. Not an inch further. But, hark you, Kate ; 
Whither I go, thither shall you go too ; 120 

To-day will I set forth, to-morrow you. 
Will this content you, Kate? 

Lady P. It must, of force. 

Exeunt. 

Scene Four 

[Eastcheap. The Boar's Head Tavern] 

Enter Prince and Poins. 

Prince. Ned, prithee, come out of that fat 
room, and lend me thy hand to laugh a little. 

Poins. Where hast been, Hal? 3 

Prince. With three or four loggerheads a- 
mongst three or four score hogsheads. I have 
sounded the very base string of humility. Sir- 
rah, I am sworn brother to a leash of drawers, 
and can call them all by their christen names, 
as Tom, Dick, and Francis. They take it already 
upon their salvation, that though I be but Prince 
of Wales, yet I am the king of courtesy ; and tell 
me flatly I am no proud Jack, like Falstaff, but 
a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy, — by 
the Lord, so they call me, — and when I am king 
of England, I shall command all the good lads 
in Eastcheap. They call drinking deep, dyeing 
scarlet; and when you breathe in your watering, 
they cry 'hem!' and bid you play it off. To 

1 fat room: room containing vats (?), or close, stuffy room 

7 leash: three on a string drawers: waiters 

9 take it . . . upon : swear by 13 Corinthian : good sport 

17 breathe . . . watering: stop to breathe while drinking 

18 play: toss 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv 37 

conclude, I am so good a proficient in one 
quarter of an hour, that I can drink with any 
tinker in his own language during my life. I 
tell thee, Ned, thou hast lost much honour that 
thou wert not with me in this action. But, sweet 
Ned, — to sweeten which name of Ned, I give thee 
this pennyworth of sugar, clapped even now into 
my hand by an underskinker, one that never 
spake other English in his life than — 'Eight 
shillings and sixpence,' and — 'You are welcome,' 
with this shrill addition, — 'Anon, anon, sir! 
Score a pint of bastard in the Half-moon,' or 
so. But, Ned, to drive away the time till Falstaff 
come, I prithee do thou stand in some by-room, 
while I question my puny drawer to what end 
he gave me the sugar; and do thou never leave 
calling 'Francis !' that his tale to me may be 
nothing but 'Anon.' Step aside, and I'll show 
thee a precedent. 37 

Poins. Francis ! 

Prince. Thou art perfect. 

Poins. Francis! [Exit Poins.] 

Enter Drawer [Francis]. 

Fran. Anon, anon, sir. Look down into the 
Pomgarnet, Ralph. 

Prince. Come hither, Francis. 
Fran. My lord. 44 

Prince. How long hast thou to serve, Francis ? 
Fran. Forsooth, five years, and as much as to — 
Poins [within.] Francis! 

21 tinker; cf. n. 26 underskinker: under-tapster 

30 bastard: sweet Spanish wine Half-moon: name of a room in the 

inn 
37 precedent: example 
42 Pomgarnet: 'Pomegranate' ; a room in the inn 



38 The First Part of 

Fran. Anon, anon, sir. 48 

Prince. Five years ! by'r lady a long lease for 
the clinking of pewter. But, Francis, darest 
thou be so valiant as to play the coward with 
thy indenture and show it a fair pair of heels 
and run from it? 53 

Fran. O Lord, sir ! I'll be sworn upon all the 
books in England, I could find in my heart — 

Poins [within.] Francis! 56 

Fran. Anon, sir. 

Prince. How old art thou, Francis? 

Fran. Let me see — about Michaelmas next I 
shall be — 60 

Poins [within."] Francis! 

Fran. Anon, sir. Pray you, stay a little, my 
lord. 

Prince. Nay, but hark you, Francis. For the 
sugar thou gavest me, 'twas a pennyworth, 
was 't not? 66 

Fran. O Lord, sir! I would it had been two. 

Prince. I will give thee for it a thousand 
pound: ask me when thou wilt and thou shalt 
have it. 

Poins [within.] Francis! 

Fran. Anon, anon. 72 

Prince. Anon, Francis? No, Francis; but 
to-morrow, Francis ; or, Francis, o' Thurs- 
day; or, indeed, Francis, when thou wilt. But, 
Francis ! 76 

Fran. My lord? 

Prince. Wilt thou rob this leathern-jerkin, 
crystal-button, not-pated, agate-ring, puke- 

59 Michaelmas; cf. n. 

79 not-pated: nut-pated, i.e., closely cropped head puke: fine wool 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv 39 

stocking, caddis-garter, smooth-tongue, Spanish- 
pouch, — 81 

Fran. O Lord, sir, who do you mean? 

Prince. Why then, your brown bastard is 
your only drink; for, look you, Francis, your 
white canvas doublet will sully. In Barbary, sir, 
it cannot come to so much. 

Fran. What, sir? 

Poins [within.] Francis! 88 

Prince. Away, you rogue ! Dost thou not 
hear them call? 

Here they both call him; the Drawer stands 
amazed, not knowing which way to go. 

Enter Vintner. 

Vint. What! standest thou still, and hearest 
such a calling? Look to the guests within. 
[Exit Drawer.] My lord, old Sir John, with 
half a dozen more, are at the door: shall I let 
them in? 

Prince. Let them alone awhile, and then 
open the door. [Exit Vintner.] Poins ! 97 

Enter Poins. 

Poins. Anon, anon, sir. 

Prince. Sirrah, Falstaff and the rest of the 
thieves are at the door : shall we be merry ? 100 

Poins. As merry as crickets, my lad. But 
hark ye; what cunning match have you made 
with this jest of the drawer? come, what's the 
issue ? 104 

Prince. I am now of all humours that have 

80 caddis: worsted ribbon Spanish-pouch: an indefinite term of 

reproach 
83 ff. ; cf. n. 102 match: bargain 



40 The First Part of 

show'd themselves humours since the old days 
of goodman Adam to the pupil age of this 
present twelve o'clock at midnight. [Drawer 
crosses the stage, with bottles.] What's o'clock, 
Francis ? no 

Fran. Anon, anon, sir. [Exit.] 

Prince. That ever this fellow should have 
fewer words than a parrot, and yet the son of a 
woman! His industry is up-stairs and down- 
stairs; his eloquence the parcel of a reckoning. 
I am not yet of Percy's mind, the Hotspur of the 
North; he that kills me some six or seven dozen 
of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and 
says to his wife, Tie upon this quiet life! I 
want work.' 'O my sweet Harry,' says she, 'how 
many hast thou killed to-day?' 'Give my roan 
horse a drench,' says he, and answers, 'Some 
fourteen,' an hour after, 'a trifle, a trifle.' I 
prithee call in Falstaff : I'll play Percy, and that 
damned brawn shall play Dame Mortimer his 
wife. 'Rivo!' says the drunkard. Call in ribs, 
call in tallow. 127 

Enter Falstaff, [Bardolph, Veto, and Gadshill. The 
Drawer follows, with wine.] 

Poins. Welcome, Jack: where hast thou been? 

Fat. A plague of all cowards, I say, and a 
vengeance too ! marry, and amen ! Give me a 
cup of sack, boy. Ere I lead this life long, 
I'll sew nether-stocks and mend them and foot 
them too. A plague of all cowards ! Give me a 

107 pupil age : youthful time 

115 parcel of a reckoning: an item on a bill 

122 drench: bran and zvater 125 brawn; cf. n. 

126 'Rivo': a Spanish (?) exclamation of drunkards 

132 nether-stocks: short stockings 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv *i 

cup of sack, rogue. — Is there no virtue extant? 

He drinketh. 

Prince. Didst thou never see Titan kiss a dish 
of butter — pitiful-hearted Titan — that melted at 
the sweet tale of the sun? if thou didst, then 
behold that compound. 138 

Fal. You rogue, here's lime in this sack too: 
there is nothing but roguery to be found in 
villainous man : yet a coward is worse than a cup 
of sack with lime in it, a villainous coward ! Go 
thy ways, old Jack; die when thou wilt. If man- 
hood, good manhood, be not forgot upon the 
face of the earth, then am I a shotten herring. 
There live not three good men unhanged in 
England, and one of them is fat and grows old: 
God help the while ! a bad world, I say. I would 
I were a weaver; I could sing psalms or any- 
thing. A plague of all cowards, I say still. 

Prince. How now, wool-sack! what mutter 
you ? 152 

Fal. A king's son! If I do not beat thee out 
of thy kingdom with a dagger of lath, and drive 
all thy subjects afore thee like a flock of wild 
geese, I'll never wear hair on my face more. 
You Prince of Wales ! 157 

Prince. Why, you whoreson round man, 
what's the matter? 

Fal. Are you not a coward? answer me to 
that; and Poins there? 161 

Poins. 'Zounds ! ye fat paunch, an ye call 
me coward, by the Lord, I'll stab thee. 

Fal. I call thee coward! I'll see thee damned 

134 virtue: courage 135 Titan, etc.; cf. n. 

145 shotten herring: a herring that has cast its roe 149 weaver; cf. n. 



42 The First Part of 

ere I call thee coward; but I would give a thou- 
sand pound I could run as fast as thou canst. 
You are straight enough in the shoulders; you 
care not who sees your back: call you that back- 
ing of your friends? A plague upon such back- 
ing! give me them that will face me. Give me 
a cup of sack: I am a rogue if I drunk to- 
day. 172 

Prince. O villain! thy lips are scarce wiped 
since thou drunkest last. 

Fal. All's one for that. He drinkeih. 

A plague of all cowards, still say I. 176 

Prince. What's the matter? 

Fal. What's the matter? there be four of us 
here have ta'en a thousand pound this day 
morning. 180 

Prince. Where is it, Jack? where is it? 

Fal. Where is it! taken from us it is: a hun- 
dred upon poor four of us. 

Prince. What, a hundred, man? 184 

Fal. I am a rogue, if I were not at half-sword 
with a dozen of them two hours together. I 
have 'scap'd by miracle. I am eight times thrust 
through the doublet, four through the hose; 
my buckler cut through and through; my sword 
hacked like a hand-saw: ecce signnm! I never 
dealt better since I was a man: all would not 
do. A plague of all cowards! Let them speak: 
if they speak more or less than truth, they are 
villains and the sons of darkness. 

Prince. Speak, sirs; how was it? 

Gads. We four set upon some dozen, — 196 

Fal. Sixteen, at least, my lord. 

185 at half-sword: at close quarters 190 ecce signum: behold the proof 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv 43 

Gads. And bound them. 

Veto. No, no, they were not bound. 

Fal. You rogue, they were bound, every 
man of them; or I am a Jew else, an Ebrew 
Jew. 

Gads. As we were sharing, some six or seven 
fresh men set upon us, — 204 

Fal. And unbound the rest, and then come 
in the other. 

Prince. What, fought ye with them all? 

Fal. All! I know not what ye call all; but if 
I fought not with fifty of them, I am a bunch of 
radish: if there were not two or three and fifty 
upon poor old Jack, then am I no two-legged 
creature. 212 

Prince. Pray God you have not murdered 
some of them. 

Fal. Nay, that's past praying for: I have 
peppered two of them: two I am sure I have 
paid, two rogues in buckram suits. I tell thee 
what, Hal, if I tell thee a lie, spit in my face, call 
me horse. Thou knowest my old ward; here I 
lay, and thus I bore my point. Four rogues in 
buckram let drive at me, — 221 

Prince. What, four? thou saidst but two 
even now. 

Fal. Four, Hal; I told thee four. 224 

Poins. Ay, ay, he said four. 

Fal. These four came all a-front, and mainly 
thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took 
all their seven points in my target, thus. 228 

217 paid: killed 

226 mainly: strongly (cf. might and main) 228 target: shield 



44 The First Part of 

Prince. Seven? why, there were but four even 
now. 

Fal. In buckram? 

Poins. Ay, four, in buckram suits. 232 

Fal. Seven, by these hilts, or I am a villain 
else. 

Prince. Prithee, let him alone; we shall have 
more anon. 236 

Fal. Dost thou hear me, Hal? 

Prince. Ay, and mark thee too, Jack. 

Fal. Do so, for it is worth the listening to. 
These nine in buckram that I told thee of, — 240 

Prince. So, two more already. 

Fal. Their points being broken, — 

Poins. Down fell their hose. 

Fal. Began to give me ground; but I fol- 
lowed me close, came in foot and hand, and 
with a thought seven of the eleven I paid. 

Prince. O monstrous ! eleven buckram men 
grown out of two. 248 

Fal. But, as the devil would have it, three 
misbegotten knaves in Kendal-green came at my 
back and let drive at me; for it was so dark, 
Hal, that thou couldst not see thy hand. 252 

Prince. These lies are like the father that be- 
gets them; gross as a mountain, open, palpable. 
Why, thou clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated 
fool, thou whoreson, obscene, greasy tallow- 
ketch, 257 

Fal. What, art thou mad? art thou mad? 
is not the truth the truth? 

Prince. Why, how couldst thou know these 

242 points; cf. n. 250 Kendal-green; cf. n. 

255 knotty-pated: thick-headed 256 tallow-ketch: tub of tallow 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv 45 

men in Kendal-green, when it was so dark thou 
couldst not see thy hand? come, tell us your 
reason: what sayest thou to this? 263 

Poins. Come, your reason, Jack, your reason. 

Fal. What, upon compulsion ? 'Zounds ! an 
I were at the strappado, or all the racks in the 
world, I would not tell you on compulsion. Give 
you a reason on compulsion! if reasons were as 
plenty as blackberries I would give no man a 
reason upon compulsion, I. 270 

Prince. I'll be no longer guilty of this sin: 
this sanguine coward, this bed-presser, this 
horseback-breaker, this huge hill of flesh; — 273 

Fal. 'Sblood, you starveling, you elf-skin, you 
dried neat's-tongue, you bull's pizzle, you stock- 
fish ! O ! for breath to utter what is like thee ; 
you tailor's yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you 
vile standing-tuck, — 278 

Prince. Well, breathe awhile, and then to it 
again; and when thou hast tired thyself in base 
comparisons, hear me speak but this. 281 

Poins. Mark, Jack. 

Prince. We two saw you four set on four and 
you bound them, and were masters of their 
wealth. Mark now, how a plain tale shall put 
you down. Then did we two set on you four, and, 
with a word, out-faced you from your prize, and 
have it; yea, and can show it you here in the 
house. And, Falstaff, you carried your guts away 
as nimbly, with as quick dexterity, and roared 
for mercy, and still ran and roared, as ever I 

266 strappado; cf. n. 268 reasons; cf. n. 272 sanguine: red-faced 
275 neat's-tongue: ox tongue stock-fish: dried cod 
278 standing-tuck: small rapier standing on end 
287 out-faced : frightened 



46 The First Part of 

heard bull-calf. What a slave art thou, to hack 
thy sword as thou hast done, and then say it 
was in fight! What trick, what device, what 
starting-hole canst thou now find out to hide 
thee from this open and apparent shame? 296 

Poins. Come, let's hear, Jack; what trick 
hast thou now? 

Fal. By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he 
that made ye. Why, hear you, my masters: was 
it for me to kill the heir-apparent ? Should I turn 
upon the true prince? Why, thou knowest I am 
as valiant as Hercules; but beware instinct: the 
lion will not touch the true prince. Instinct is 
a great matter, I was a coward on instinct. I 
shall think the better of myself and thee during 
my life; I for a valiant lion, and thou for a true 
prince. But, by the Lord, lads, I am glad you 
have the money. Hostess, clap to the doors: 
watch to-night, pray to-morrow. Gallants, lads, 
boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellow- 
ship come to you ! What ! shall we be merry ? 
shall we have a play extempore? 313 

Prince. Content; and the argument shall be 
thy running away. 

Fal. Ah ! no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest 
me ! 317 

Enter Hostess. 

Host. O Jesu ! my lord the prince ! 

Prince. How now, my lady the hostess ! what 
sayest thou to me ? 320 

Host. Marry, my lord, there is a nobleman 
of the court at door would speak with you: he 
says he comes from your father. 

295 starting-hole: subterfuge (lit. hunted animal's shelter) 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv w 

Prince. Give him as much as will make him a 
royal man, and send him back again to my mother. 

Fal. What manner of man is he? 326 

Host. An old man. 

Fal. What doth gravity out of his bed at 
midnight ? Shall I give him his answer ? 

Prince. Prithee, do, Jack. 330 

Fal. Faith, and I'll send him packing. Exit. 

Prince. Now, sirs: by'r lady, you fought fair; 
so did you, Peto; so did you, Bardolph: you are 
lions too, you ran away upon instinct, you will 
not touch the true prince ; no, fie ! 

Bard. Faith, I ran when I saw others run. 336 

Prince. Faith, tell me now in earnest, how 
came FalstafFs sword so hacked? 

Peto. Why he hacked it with his dagger, and 
said he would swear truth out of England but 
he would make you believe it was done in fight, 
and persuaded us to do the like. 342 

Bard. Yea, and to tickle our noses with 
spear-grass to make them bleed, and then to be- 
slubber our garments with it and swear it 
was the blood of true men. I did that I did not 
this seven year before; I blushed to hear his 
monstrous devices. 348 

Prince. O villain! thou stolest a cup of sack 
eighteen years ago, and wert taken with the 
manner, and ever since thou hast blushed ex- 
tempore. Thou hadst fire and sword on thy side, 
and yet thou rannest away. What instinct 
hadst thou for it. 

Bard. [Pointing to his own face.] My lord, do 

325 royal; cf. n. 350 taken . . . manner: taken in the act 

355-362 Cf. n. 



48 The First Part of 

you see these meteors? do you behold these 
exhalations ? 357 

Prince. I do. 

Bard. What think you they portend? 

Prince. Hot livers and cold purses. 360 

Bard. Choler, my lord, if rightly taken. 

Prince. No, if rightly taken, halter. — 

Enter Falstaff. 

Here comes lean Jack, here comes bare-bone. — 
How now, my sweet creature of bombast ! How 
long is 't ago, Jack, since thou sawest thine own 
knee ? 366 

Fal. My own knee! When I was about thy 
years, Hal, I was not an eagle's talon in the 
waist; I could have crept into any alderman's 
thumb-ring. A plague of sighing and grief! it 
blows a man up like a bladder. There's villain- 
ous news abroad: here was Sir John Bracy from 
your father: you must to the court in the morn- 
ing. That same mad fellow of the north, Percy, 
and he of Wales, that gave Amaimon the basti- 
nado and made Lucifer cuckold, and swore 
the devil his true liegeman upon the cross of a 
Welsh hook — what a plague call you him? 378 

Poins. O, Glendower. 

Fal. Owen, Owen, the same; and his son-in- 
law Mortimer; and old Northumberland; and 
that sprightly Scot of Scots, Douglas, that runs 
o' horseback up a hill perpendicular. 

Prince. He that rides at high speed and with 
his pistol kills a sparrow flying. 385 

357 exhalations: meteors 364 bombast: cotton stuffing 

375 Amaimon: a devil bastinado: a cudgelling 
378 Welsh hook: weapon resembling a halberd 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv 49 

Fal. You have hit it. 

Prince. So did he never the sparrow. 

Fal. Well, that rascal hath good mettle in 
him; he will not run. 389 

Prince. Why, what a rascal art thou then to 
praise him so for running ! 

Fal. O' horseback, ye cuckoo! but, afoot he 
will not budge a foot. 393 

Prince. Yes, Jack, upon instinct. 

Fal. I grant ye, upon instinct. Well, he is 
there too, and one Mordake, and a thousand 
blue-caps more. Worcester is stolen away to- 
night; thy father's beard is turned white with 
the news: you may buy land now as cheap as 
stinking mackerel. 400 

Prince. Why then, it is like, if there come a 
hot June and this civil buffeting hold, we shall 
buy maidenheads as they buy hob-nails, by the 
hundreds. 404 

Fal. By the mass, lad, thou sayest true; it is 
like we shall have good trading that way. But 
tell me, Hal, art thou not horribly afeard? thou 
being heir apparent, could the world pick thee 
out three such enemies again as that fiend 
Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that devil Glen- 
dower? Art thou not horribly afraid? doth not 
thy blood thrill at it? 412 

Prince. Not a whit, i' faith; I lack some of 
thy instinct. 

Fal. Well, thou wilt be horribly chid to- 
morrow when thou comest to thy father: if 
thou love me, practise an answer. 417 

397 blue-caps: Scotchmen (so-called from their blue bonnets) 



so The First Part of 

Prince. Do thou stand for my father, and 
examine me upon the particulars of my life. 

Fal. Shall I ? content : this chair shall be my 
state, this dagger my sceptre, and this cushion 
my crown. 422 

Prince. Thy state is taken for a joint-stool, 
thy golden sceptre for a leaden dagger, and thy 
precious rich crown for a pitiful bald crown ! 425 

Fal. Well, an the fire of grace be not quite 
out of thee, now shalt thou be moved. Give me 
a cup of sack to make mine eyes look red, that it 
may be thought I have wept; for I must speak 
in passion, and I will do it in King Cambyses' 
vein. 

Prince. Well, here is my leg. 

Fal. And here is my speech. Stand aside, 
nobility. 434 

Host. O Jesu ! This is excellent sport, i' faith ! 
Fal. Weep not, sweet queen, for trickling tears 

are vain. 436 

Host. O, the father! how he holds his coun- 
tenance. 
Fal. For God's sake, lords, convey my tristful 

queen, 
For tears do stop the flood-gates of her eyes. 440 

Host. O Jesu ! he doth it as like one of 
these harlotry players as ever I see! 

Fal. Peace, good pint-pot ! peace, good tickle- 
brain ! [Bardolph conveys the Hostess from the 
stage.] Harry, I do not only marvel where thou 
spendest thy time, but also how thou art accom- 

421 state: throne of state _ 430 passion: sorrow Cambyses'; cf. n. 
432 leg: bow 439 tristful: sorrozvful 442 harlotry: rascally 

443 tickle-brain: a strong liquor; cf. n. 444-467 Cf. n. 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv 51 

parried: for though the camomile, the more it is 
trodden on the faster it grows, yet youth, the 
more it is wasted the sooner it wears : That thou 
art my son, I have partly thy mother's word, part- 
ly my own opinion; but chiefly, a villainous trick 
of thine eye and a foolish hanging of thy nether 
lip, that doth warrant me. If then thou be son to 
me, here lies the point; why, being son to me, 
art thou so pointed at? Shall the blessed sun of 
heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries? a 
question not to be asked. Shall the son of Eng- 
land prove a thief and take purses? a question 
to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, which thou 
hast often heard of, and it is known to many in 
our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as an- 
cient writers do report, doth defile; so doth the 
company thou keepest; for, Harry, now I do not 
speak to thee in drink, but in tears, not in plea- 
sure but in passion, not in words only, but in 
woes also. And yet there is a virtuous man 
whom I have often noted in thy company, but I 
know not his name. 467 

Prince. What manner of man, an it like your 
maj esty ? 

Fal. A goodly portly man, i' faith, and a cor- 
pulent; of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a 
most noble carriage; and, as I think, his age 
some fifty, or by'r lady, inclining to threescore; 
and now I remember me, his name is FalstafT: if 
that man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth 
me; for, Harry, I see virtue in his looks. If then 
the tree may be known by the fruit, as the fruit 

446 camomile: a strong-scented herb 

451 nether: lower 455 micher: truant 



52 The First Part of 

by the tree, then, peremptorily I speak it, there is 
virtue in that Falstaff: him keep with, the rest 
banish. And tell me now, thou naughty varlet, 
tell me, where hast thou been this month? 

Prince. Dost thou speak like a king? Do 
thou stand for me, and I'll play my father. 483 

Fal. Depose me? if thou dost it half so 
gravely, so majestically, both in word and 
matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit- 
sucker or a poulter's hare. 

Prince. Well, here I am set. 488 

Fal. And here I stand. Judge, my masters. 

Prince. Now, Harry! whence come you? 

Fal. My noble lord, from Eastcheap. 

Prince. The complaints I hear of thee are 
grievous. 493 

Fal. 'Sblood, my lord, they are false ! 
[Aside to Prince.] Nay, I'll tickle ye for a young 
prince, i' faith. 

Prince. Swearest thou, ungracious boy? hence- 
forth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently car- 
ried away from grace: there is a devil haunts 
thee in the likeness of an old fat man; a tun of 
man is thy companion. Why dost thou con- 
verse with that trunk of humours, that bolting- 
hutch of beastliness, that swoln parcel of dropsies, 
that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak- 
bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with 
the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that 
grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in 

486-487 Cf. n. 495 Cf. n. 

501 trunk of humours: chest full of caprices bolting-hutch: bin for 

sifting meal 

503 bombard: large leather vessel for holding liquor cloak-bag: 
portmanteau 

504 Manningtree: cf. n. 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv 53 

years ? Wherein is he good but to taste sack and 
drink it? wherein neat and cleanly but to carve 
a capon and eat it? wherein cunning but in 
craft? wherein crafty but in villainy? wherein 
villainous but in all things? wherein worthy but 
in nothing? 512 

Fal. I would your Grace would take me with 
you: whom means your Grace? 

Prince. That villainous abominable misleader 
of youth, Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan. 

Fal. My lord, the man I know. 517 

Prince. I know thou dost. 

Fal. But to say I know more harm in him 
than in myself were to say more than I know. 
That he is old, the more the pity, his white 
hairs do witness it; but that he is, saving your 
reverence, a whoremaster, that I utterly deny. 
If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the 
wicked! If to be old and merry be a sin, then 
many an old host that I know is damned: if to 
be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine 
are to be loved. No, my good lord; banish Peto, 
banish Bardolph, banish Poins; but for sweet 
Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Fal- 
staff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more 
valiant, being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish 
not him thy Harry's company: banish not him 
thy Harry's company: banish plump Jack, and 
banish all the world. 535 

Prince. I do, I will. 

Enter Bardolph, running. 

513 take me with you: let me follow your meaning 

522 saving . . . reverence: an apologetic phrase introducing a remark 

that might offend the hearer 
527 Cf. n. 



54 The First Part of 



Bard. O ! my lord, my lord, the sheriff with a 
most monstrous watch is at the door. 

Fal. Out, ye rogue! Play out the play: I 
have much to say in the behalf of that Falstaff. 

Enter the Hostess. 

Host. O Jesu! my lord, my lord! 541 

Prince. Heigh, heigh ! the devil rides upon a 
fiddle-stick: what's the matter? 

Host. The sheriff and all the watch are at 
the door: they are come to search the house. 
Shall I let them in? 546i 

Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? never call a true 
piece of gold a counterfeit. Thou art essentially 
mad without seeming so. 549: 

Prince. And thou a natural coward without 
instinct. 

Fal. I deny your major. If you will deny the 
sheriff, so; if not, let him enter: if I become not 
a cart as well as another man, a plague on my 
bringing up ! I hope I shall as soon be strangled 
with a halter as another. 556C 

Prince. Go, hide thee behind the arras: the 
rest walk up above. Now, my masters, for a 
true face and good conscience. 

Fal. Both which I have had; but their date 
is out, and therefore I'll hide me. Exit. 561 

Prince. Call in the sheriff. 

Enter the Sheriff and the Carrier. 
Now, master sheriff, what's your will with me? 

547-549 Cf.n. 552 major: major premise 

554 cart: cart used for taking criminals to the gallows 

557 arras: hanging screen of tapestry placed around the walls of a 

room 
557-558 Cf. n. 



King Henry the Fourth, II. iv 55 

Sher. First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and 
cry 564 

Hath follow'd certain men unto this house. 
Prince. What men? 

Sher. One of them is well known, my gracious lord, 
A gross fat man. 

Car. As fat as butter. 568 

Prince. The man, I do assure you, is not here, 
For I myself at this time have employ'd him. 
And, sheriff, I will engage my word to thee, 
That I will, by to-morrow dinner-time, 572 

Send him to answer thee, or any man, 
For anything he shall be charg'd withal: 
And so let me entreat you leave the house. 

Sher. I will, my lord. There are two gentle- 
men 576 
Have in this robbery lost three hundred marks. 

Prince. It may be so: if he have robb'd these men, 
He shall be answerable; and so farewell. 

Sher. Good night, my noble lord. 580 

Prince. I think it is good morrow, is it not? 
Sher. Indeed, my lord, I think it be two o'clock. 

Exit [with Carrier']. 
Prince. This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's. 
Go, call him forth. 584 

Peto. Falstaff! fast asleep behind the arras, 
and snorting like a horse. 

Prince. Hark, how hard he fetches breath. 
Search his pockets. 

He searcheth his pockets, and findeth certain 

papers. 
What hast thou found ? 590 

Peto. Nothing but papers, my lord. 

583 Paul's: St. Paul's Cathedral 



56 The First Part of 

Prince. Let's see what they be: read them. 
Veto. "Item, A Capon .... 2*. 2d. 

Item, Sauce 4>d. 

Item, Sack, two gallons . . 5*. 8d. 
Item, Anchovies and sack after 

supper 2*. 6d. 

Item, Bread ob." 

Prince. O monstrous ! but one half-penny- 
worth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack! 
What there is else, keep close; we'll read it at 
more advantage. There let him sleep till day. 
I'll to the court in the morning. We must all to 
the wars, and thy place shall be honourable. I'll 
procure this fat rogue a charge of foot; and, 
I know, his death will be a march of twelve- 
score. The money shall be paid back again 
with advantage. Be with me betimes in the 
morning; and so good morrow, Peto. 608 I 

Peto. Good morrow, good my lord. Exeunt.. 



ACT THIRD 

Scene One 

[Bangor. The Archdeacon's House] 

Enter Hotspur, Worcester, Lord Mortimer, 
Owen Glendower. 



Mort. These promises are fair, the parties sure, 
And our induction full of prosperous hope. 

Hot. Lord Mortimer, and cousin Glendower, 
Will you sit down? 4 

598 ob. : obolus = half -penny 

604 charge of foot: command of infantry 

607 advantage: interest 2 induction: beginning 



King Henry the Fourth, III. i 57 

And uncle Worcester ? A plague upon it ! 
I have forgot the map. 

Glend. No, here it is. 

Sit, cousin Percy; sit, good cousin Hotspur; 
For by that name as oft as Lancaster 8 

Doth speak of you, his cheek looks pale and with' 
A rising sigh he wisheth you in heaven. 

Hot. And you in hell, as often as he hears 
Owen Glendower spoke of. 12 

Glend. I cannot blame him: at my nativity 
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, 
Of burning cressets ; and at my birth 
The frame and huge foundation of the earth 1G 

Shak'd like a coward. 

Hot. Why, so it would have done at the same 

season, if your mother's cat had but kittened, 

though yourself had never been born. 20 

Glend. I say the earth did shake when I was born. 
Hot. And I say the earth was not of my mind, 

If you suppose as fearing you it shook. 

Glend. The heavens were all on fire, the earth did 
tremble. 24 

Hot. O ! then the earth shook to see the heavens 
on fire, 
And not in fear of your nativity. 
Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth 
In strange eruptions; oft the teeming earth 28 

Is with a kind of colic pinch'd and vex'd 
By the imprisoning of unruly wind 
Within her womb; which, for enlargement striving, 
Shakes the old beldam earth, and topples down 
Steeples and moss-grown towers. At your birth 33 

8 Lancaster: the King 15 cressets: beacon lights 

31 enlargement: release 32 beldam: grandmother 



58 The First Part of 

Our grandam earth, having this distemperature, 
In passion shook. 

Glend. Cousin, of many men 

I do not bear these crossings. Give me leave 36 

To tell you once again that at my birth 
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, 
The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds 
Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields. 
These signs have mark'd me extraordinary ; 41 

And all the courses of my life do show 
I am not in the roll of common men. 
Where is he living, clipp'd in with the sea 44 

That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales, 
Which calls me pupil, or hath read to me? 
And bring him out that is but woman's son 
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art 48 

And hold me pace in deep experiments. 

Hot. I think there's no man speaks better Welsh. 
I'll to dinner. 

Mort. Peace, cousin Percy! you will make him 
mad. 52 

Glend. I can call spirits from the vasty deep. 

Hot. Why, so can I, or so can any man ; 
But will they come when you do call for them? 

Glend. Why, I can teach thee, cousin, to com- 
mand 56 
The devil. 

Hot. And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil 
By telling truth : tell truth and shame the devil. 
If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither, 60 
And I'll be sworn I have power to shame him hence. 
O ! while you live, tell truth and shame the devil ! 

35 passion: pain 44 clipp'd in with: surrounded by 

45 chides: lashes 46 read to: instructed 

48 trace: follow art: magic 



King Henry the Fourth, III. i 59 

Mort. Come, come; 
No more of this unprofitable chat. 64 

Glend. Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made 
head 
Against my power; thrice from the banks of Wye 
And sandy-bottom'd Severn have I sent him 
Bootless home and weather-beaten back. 68 

Hot . Home without boots, and in foul weather too ! 
How 'scapes he agues, in the devil's name? 

Glend. Come, here's the map: shall we divide our 
right 
According to our threefold order ta'en? 72 

Mort. The archdeacon hath divided it 
Into three limits very equally. 
England, from Trent and Severn hitherto, 
By south and east, is to my part assign'd : 76 

All westward, Wales beyond the Severn shore, 
And all the fertile land within that bound, 
To Owen Glendower : and, dear coz, to you 
The remnant northward, lying off from Trent. 80 

And our indentures tripartite are drawn, 
Which being sealed interchangeably, 
A business that this night may execute, 
To-morrow, cousin Percy, you and I 84 

And my good Lord Worcester will set forth 
To meet your father and the Scottish power, 
As is appointed us, at Shrewsbury. 
My father Glendower is not ready yet, 88 

Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days. 
Within that space you may have drawn together 
Your tenants, friends, and neighbouring gentlemen. 

68 bootless: without advantage; cf. I. i. 29 75 hitherto: to this spot 

81 indentures tripartite: three copies of the agreement 

82 interchangeably : each party signing each copy 



eo The First Part of 

Glend. A shorter time shall send me to you, 
lords ; 92 

And in my conduct shall your ladies come, 
From whom you now must steal and take no leave; 
For there will be a world of water shed 
Upon the parting of your wives and you. 96 

Hot. Methinks my moiety, north from Burton here, 
In quantity equals not one of yours: 
See how this river comes me cranking in, 
And cuts me from the best of all my land 100) 

A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out. 
I'll have the current in this place damm'd up, 
And here the smug and silver Trent shall run 
In a new channel, fair and evenly: 104 

It shall not wind with such a deep indent, 
To rob me of so rich a bottom here. 

Glend. Not wind ! it shall, it must ; you see it doth. 

Mort. Yea, but 108 

Mark how he bears his course, and runs me up 
With like advantage on the other side; 
Gelding the opposed continent as much, 
As on the other side it takes from you. 112 

Wor. Yea, but a little charge will trench him here, 
And on this north side win this cape of land; 
And then he runs straight and even. 

Hot. I'll have it so; a little charge will do it. 

Glend. I will not have it alter'd. 

Hot. Will not you? 117 

Glend. No, nor you shall not. 

Hot. Who shall say me nay? 

Glend. Why, that will I. 

S3 conduct: escort 97 moiety: portion 99 cranking: winding 

100 the best of all my land; cf. n. 101 cantle: piece 

103 smug: neat, trim 106 bottom: low, rich land 

111 Gelding: cutting opposed continent: country opposite 
113 charge: expense 



King Henry the Fourth } III. i 6i 

Hot. Let me not understand you then: 

Speak it in Welsh. 120 

Glend. I can speak English, lord, as well as you, 
For I was train'd up in the English court; 
Where, being but young, I framed to the harp 
Many an English ditty lovely well, 124 

And gave the tongue an helpful ornament; 
A virtue that was never seen in you. 

Hot. Marry, and I'm glad of it with all my heart. 
I had rather be a kitten, and cry mew 128 

Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers; 
I had rather hear a brazen canstick turn'd, 
Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree; 
And that would set my teeth nothing on edge, 
Nothing so much as mincing poetry: 133 

Tis like the forc'd gait of a shuffling nag. 

Glend. Come, you shall have Trent turn'd. 

Hot. I do not care: I'll give thrice so much land 136 
To any well-deserving friend; 
But in the way of bargain, mark you me, 
I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair. 
Are the indentures drawn? shall we be gone? 

Glend. The moon shines fair, you may away by 
night: 14 1 

I'll haste the writer and withal 
Break with your wives of your departure hence: 
I am afraid my daughter will run mad, 144 

So much she doteth on her Mortimer. Exit. 

Mort. Fie, cousin Percy ! how you cross my father ! 

Hot. I cannot choose: sometimes he angers me 
With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant, 
Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies, 149 

130 canstick: candlestick 133 mincing: affected 

143 break with: inform 148-152 Cf.n. 



62 The First Part of 

And of a dragon, and a finless fish, 

A clip-wing'd griffin, and a moulten raven, 

A couching lion, and a ramping cat, 152^ 

And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff 

As puts me from my faith. I'll tell thee what; 

He held me last night at least nine hours 

In reckoning up the several devils' names 156 

That were his lackeys : I cried 'hum !' and 'well, go to. 

But mark'd him not a word. O ! he's as tedious 

As a tired horse, a railing wife; 

Worse than a smoky house. I had rather live 

With cheese and garlic in a windmill, far, 1611 

Than feed on cates and have him talk to me 

In any summer-house in Christendom. 

Mort. In faith, he is a worthy gentleman, 164 ( 

Exceedingly well read, and profited 
In strange concealments, valiant as a lion 
And wondrous affable, and as bountiful 
As mines of India. Shall I tell you, cousin? 168^ 

He holds your temper in a high respect, 
And curbs himself even of his natural scope 
When you do cross his humour; faith, he does. 
I warrant you, that man is not alive 172 2 

Might so have tempted him as you have done, 
Without the taste of danger and reproof: 
But do not use it oft, let me entreat you. 

Wor. In faith, my lord, you are too wilful- 
blame ; 176 
And since your coming hither have done enough 
To put him quite beside his patience. 
You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault: 

153 skimble-skamble: nonsensical 162 cates: dainties 

163 summer-house: country house 165 profited: proficient 

166 concealments: mysteries 170 scope: tendencies 

176 too wilful-blame: to be blamed for too great wilfulness 



King Henry the Fourth, III. i 63 

Though sometimes it show greatness, courage, 
blood, — 180 

And that's the dearest grace it renders you, — 
Yet often times it doth present harsh rage, 
Defect of manners, want of government, 
Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain: 184 

The least of which haunting a nobleman 
Loseth men's hearts and leaves behind a stain 
Upon the beauty of all parts besides, 
Beguiling them of commendation. 188 

Hot. Well, I am school'd; good manners be your 
speed ! 
Here come our wives, and let us take our leave. 

Enter Glendower, with the Ladies. 

Mort. This is the deadly spite that angers me, 
My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh. 192 

Glend. My daughter weeps; she will not part with 
you: 
She'll be a soldier too: she'll to the wars. 

Mort. Good father, tell her that she and my aunt 
Percy, 
Shall follow in your conduct speedily. 196 

Glendower speaks to her in Welsh, and she 
answers him in the same. 
Glend. She's desperate here; a peevish self- 
will'd harlotry, one that no persuasion can do 
good upon. The lady speaks in Welsh. 

Mort. I understand thy looks: that pretty 
Welsh 200 

Which thou pour'st down from these swelling heavens 

180 blood: spirit 181 dearest: most valuable 182 present: in dicate 
183 government: self-control 184 opinion: arrogance 

188 Beguiling: cheatin g 189 be your speed: bring you good fortune 

195 aunt: cf. n. on I. Hi. 145-146 
198 harlotry: silly girl 200-203 Cf. n. 



6i The First Part of 

I am too perfect in; and, but for shame, 
In such a parley would I answer thee. 

The lady again in Welsh. 

1 understand thy kisses and thou mine, 204 
And that's a feeling disputation: 
But I will never be a truant, love, 
Till I have learn'd thy language ; for thy tongue 
Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penn'd, 
Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower, 209 
With ravishing division, to her lute. 

Glend. Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad. 

The lady speaks again in Welsh. 

Mort. O ! I am ignorance itself in this. 212 

Glend. She bids you 
Upon the wanton rushes lay you down 
And rest your gentle head upon her lap, 
And she will sing the song that pleaseth you, 
And on your eye-lids crown the god of sleep, 217 

Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness, 
Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep 
As is the difference between day and night 220 

The hour before the heavenly-harness'd team 
Begins his golden progress in the east. 

Mort. With all my heart I'll sit and hear her sing: 
By that time will our book, I think, be drawn. 

Glend. Do so; 225 

And those musicians that shall play to you 
Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence, 
And straight they shall be here: sit, and attend. 228 
Hot. Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying 

down: come, quick, quick, that I may lay my 

head in thy lap. 

205 disputation: conversation 

2 8 highly penn'd: written in high style 210 division: modulation 
214 wanton: soft, luxurious 224 book: indentures 



King Henry the Fourth, III. i 65 



Lady P. Go, ye giddy goose. 232 

The Music plays. 
Hot. Now I perceive the devil understands Welsh; 
And 'tis no marvel he is so humorous. 
By'r lady, he's a good musician. 

Lady P. Then should you be nothing but 
musical, for you are altogether governed by 
humours. Lie still, ye thief, and hear the lady 
sing in Welsh. 

Hot. I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl 
in Irish. 240 

Lady P. Wouldst thou have thy head broken ? 
Hot. No. 

Lady P. Then be still. 

Hot. Neither; 'tis a woman's fault. 244 

Lady P. Now, God help thee ! 
Hot. To the Welsh lady's bed. 
Lady P. What's that? 

Hot. Peace! she sings. 248 

Here the lady sings a Welsh song. 
Hot. Come, Kate, I'll have your song too. 
Lady P. Not mine, in good sooth. 
Hot. Not yours, 'in good sooth!' Heart! 
you swear like a comfit-maker's wife! Not you 
'in good sooth;' and, 'as true as I live;' and, 
'as God shall mend me;' and, 'as sure as day:' 
And giv'st such sarcenet surety for thy oaths, 
As if thou never walk'dst further than Finsbury. 256 
Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art, 
A good mouth-filling oath; and leave 'in sooth/ 
And such protest of pepper-gingerbread, 
To velvet-guards and Sunday-citizens. 260 

234 humorous: capricious 240 brach: a bitch-hound 

252 comfit-maker: confectioner 255 sarcenet: flimsy; cf. n. 

256 Finsbury; cf. n. 260 velvet-guards; cf. n. 



66 The First Part of 

Come, sing. 

Lady P. I will not sing. 

Hot. 'Tis the next way to turn tailor or be 
red-breast teacher. An the indentures be drawn, 
111 away within these two hours; and so, come 
in when ye will. Exit. 

Glend. Come, come, Lord Mortimer; you are as 
slow 
As hot Lord Percy is on fire to go. 268 

By this our book is drawn; we will but seal, 
And then to horse immediately. 

Mort. With all my heart. Exeunt. 

Scene Two 

[London. The Palace] 

Enter the King, Prince of Wales, and others. 

King. Lords, give us leave; the Prince of Wales 

and I 
Must have some private conference: but be near at 

hand, 
For we shall presently have need of you. 

Exeunt Lords. 
I know not whether God will have it so, 4 

For some displeasing service I have done, 
That, in his secret doom, out of my blood 
He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me; 
But thou dost in thy passages of life 8 

Make me believe that thou art only mark'd 
For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven 
To punish my mistreadings. Tell me else, 
Could such inordinate and low desires, 12 

263 tailor; cf. n. 264 red-breast teacher: trainer of singing-birds 

1 give . . . leave: leave us 3 presently: immediately 

6 doom: judgment 8 thy passages of life: the actions of thy life 



King Henry the Fourth, III. ii 67 

Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts, 
Such barren pleasures, rude society, 
As thou art match'd withal and grafted to, 
Accompany the greatness of thy blood 16 

And hold their level with thy princely heart? 

Prince. So please your majesty, I would I could 
Quit all offences with as clear excuse 
As well as I am doubtless I can purge 20 

Myself of many I am charg'd withal: 
Yet such extenuation let me beg, 
As, in reproof of many tales devis'd, 
Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear, 
By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers, 
I may, for some things true, wherein my youth 
Hath faulty wander' d and irregular, 
Find pardon on my true submission. 28 

King. God pardon thee ! yet let me wonder, Harry, 
At thy affections, which do hold a wing 
Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors. 
Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost, 32 

Which by thy younger brother is supplied, 
And art almost an alien to the hearts 
Of all the court and princes of my blood. 
The hope and expectation of thy time 36 

Is ruin'd, and the soul of every man 
Prophetically do forethink thy fall. 
Had I so lavish of my presence been, 
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men, 40 

So stale and cheap to vulgar company, 
Opinion, that did help me to the crown, 
Had still kept loyal to possession 
And left me in reputeless banishment, 44 

19 Quit: clear myself 23 reproof : refutation _ devis'd : invented 

30 affections: taste s 36 time: age, reign 42 Opinion: public opinion 
43 to possession: to the possessor, i.e., King Richard 



68 The First Part of 

A fellow of no mark nor likelihood. 

By being seldom seen, I could not stir, 

But like a comet I was wonder'd at; 

That men would tell their children, 'This is he ;' 

Others would say, 'Where? which is Bolingbroke?' 49 

And then I stole all courtesy from heaven, 

And dress'd myself in such humility 

That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts, 

Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths, 

Even in the presence of the crowned king. 

Thus did I keep my person fresh and new; 

My presence, like a robe pontifical, 56 

Ne'er seen but wonder'd at: and so my state, 

Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast, 

And won by rareness such solemnity. 

The skipping king, he ambled up and down 60 

With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits, 

Soon kindled and soon burnt; carded his state, 

Mingled his royalty with capering fools, 

Had his great name profaned with their scorns, 

And gave his countenance, against his name, 65 

To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push 

Of every beardless vain comparative; 

Grew a companion to the common streets, 68 

Enfeoff'd himself to popularity; 

That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes, 

They surfeited with honey and began 

To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little 

More than a little is by much too much. 73 

So, when he had occasion to be seen, 

50 stole, etc.; cf. n. 61 bavin: brushwood, which soon bums out 

62 carded; cf. n. 65 against his name: contrary to his dignity 

66 stand the push: withstand the attack 

67 comparative: one who affects wit; cf. I. ii. go 

69 Enfeoff'd himself: gave himself up entirely popularity: low 

company 



King Henry the Fourth, III. ii 69 

He was but as the cuckoo is in June, 

Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes 

As, sick and blunted with community, 77 

Afford no extraordinary gaze, 

Such as is bent on sun-like majesty 

When it shines seldom in admiring eyes ; 80 

But rather drows'd and hung their eyelids down, 

Slept in his face, and render'd such aspect 

As cloudy men use to their adversaries, 

Being with his presence glutted, gorg'd, and full. 

And in that very line, Harry, stand' st thou; 85 

For thou hast lost thy princely privilege 

With vile participation: not an eye 

But is aweary of thy common sight, 88 

Save mine, which hath desir'd to see thee more; 

Which now doth that I would not have it do, 

Make blind itself with foolish tenderness. 

Prince. I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious 
lord, 92 

Be more myself. 

King. For all the world, 

As thou art to this hour was Richard then 
When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh; 
And even as I was then is Percy now. 96 

Now, by my sceptre and my soul to boot, 
He hath more worthy interest to the state 
Than thou the shadow of succession; 
For of no right, nor colour like to right, 100 

He doth fill fields with harness in the realm, 
Turns head against the lion's armed jaws, 
And, being no more in debt to years than thou, 

77 community: commonness 83 cloudy : sullen 
87 vile participation: base companionship 

98 interest: claim 99 shadow of succession; cf. n. 

100 colour : pretext 101 harness: armour 



70 The First Part of 

Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on 104 

To bloody battles and to bruising arms. 
What never-dying honour hath he got 
Against renowned Douglas ! whose high deeds, 
Whose hot incursions and great name in arms, 
Holds from all soldiers chief majority, 109 

And military title capital, 

Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ. 
Thrice hath this Hotspur, Mars in swathling 
clothes, 112 

This infant warrior, in his enterprises 
Discomfited great Douglas; ta'en him once, 
Enlarged him and made a friend of him, 
To fill the mouth of deep defiance up 116 

And shake the peace and safety of our throne. 
And what say you to this ? Percy, Northumberland, 
The Archbishop's Grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer, 
Capitulate against us and are up. 120 

But wherefore do I tell these news to thee? 
Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes, 
Which art my near'st and dearest enemy? 
Thou that art like enough, through vassal fear, 
Base inclination, and the start of spleen, 125 

To fight against me under Percy's pay, 
To dog his heels, and curtsy at his frowns, 
To show how much thou art degenerate. 128 

Prince. Do not think so; you shall not find it so: 
And God forgive them, that so much have sway'd 
Your majesty's good thoughts away from me! 
I will redeem all this on Percy's head, 132 

And in the closing of some glorious day 
Be bold to tell you that I am your son; 

109 majority: pre-eminence 110 capital: chief 

115 enlarged: released 120 Capitulate : form a league 

124 vassal: slavish 125 start of spleen: impulse of ill temper 



King Henry the Fourth, III. ii 71 

When I will wear a garment all of blood 

And stain my favours in a bloody mask, 136 

Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it: 

And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights, 

That this same child of honour and renown, 

This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight, 140 

And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet. 

For every honour sitting on his helm, 

Would they were multitudes, and on my head 

My shames redoubled ! For the time will come 

That I shall make this northern youth exchange 145 

His glorious deeds for my indignities. 

Percy is but my factor, good my lord, 

To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf ; 

And I will call him to so strict account 

That he shall render every glory up, 150 

Yea, even the slightest worship of his time, 

Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart. 

This, in the name of God, I promise here: 

The which, if he be pleas'd I shall perform, 

I do beseech your majesty may salve 155 

The long-grown wounds of my intemperance: 

If not, the end of life cancels all bands, 

And I will die a hundred thousand deaths 

Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow. 

King. A hundred thousand rebels die in this : 160 
Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein. 

Enter Blunt. 

How now, good Blunt ! thy looks are full of speed. 

Blunt. So hath the business that I come to speak of. 
Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word 164 

That Douglas and the English rebels met, 

136 favours: features 147 factor: agent 148 engross up: collect 

151 worship: honour 157 bands: bonds 



72 The First Part of 

The eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury. 

A mighty and a fearful head they are, — 

If promises be kept on every hand, — 168 

As ever offer'd foul play in a state. 

King. The Earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day, 
With him my son, Lord John of Lancaster; 
For this advertisement is five days old. 172 

On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set forward; 
On Thursday we ourselves will march: our meeting 
Is Bridgenorth; and Harry, you shall march 
Through Gloucestershire; by which account, 176 

Our business valued, some twelve days hence 
Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet. 
Our hands are full of business : let's away ; 
Advantage feeds him fat while men delay. 180 

Exeunt. 

Scene Three 

[Eastcheap. The Boar's Head Tavern] 

Enter Falstaff and Bardolph. 

Fal. Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely 
since this last action? do I not bate? do I not 
dwindle? Why, my skin hangs about me like an 
old lady's loose gown ; I am withered like an old 
apple-john. Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly, 
while I am in some liking; I shall be out of heart 
shortly, and then I shall have no strength to re- 
pent. An I have not forgotten what the inside 
of a church is made of, I am a peppercorn, a 

172 advertisement: news 177 valued: taken into consideration 

2 bate : fall off, grow thin 

5 apple-john: an apple that keeps well but becomes very shrivelled 

6 liking: (good) bodily condition 

9 peppercorn : the dried berry from which pepper is ground 



King Henry the Fourth, III. Hi 73 

brewer's horse: the inside of a church! Com- 
pany, villainous • company, hath been the spoil 
of me. 12 

Bard. Sir John, you are so fretful, you can- 
not live long. 

Fal. Why, there is it: come, sing me a bawdy 
song; make me merry. I was as virtuously given 
as a gentleman need to be; virtuous enough: 
swore little ; diced not — above seven times a week ; 
went to a bawdy-house not above once in a 
quarter — of an hour; paid money that I bor- 
rowed — three or four times ; lived well and in good 
compass; and now I live out of all order, out of 
all compass. 23 

Bard. Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that 
you must needs be out of all compass, out of all 
reasonable compass, Sir John. 26 

Fal. Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend 
my life: thou art our admiral, thou bearest the 
lantern in the poop, but 'tis in the nose of thee: 
thou art the Knight of the Burning Lamp. 

Bard. Why, Sir John, my face does you no 
harm. 32 

Fal. No, I'll be sworn; I make as good use 
of it as many a man doth of a Death's head, or 
a memento mori: I never see thy face but I think 
upon hell-fire and Dives that lived in purple; 
for there he is in his robes, burning, burning. If 
thou wert any way given to virtue, I would swear 
by thy face; my oath should be, 'By this fire, 
that's God's angel:' but thou art altogether 
given over, and wert indeed, but for the light in 

10 brewer's horse ; cf. n. 28 admiral : flag-ship 

35 memento mori; cf. n. 36 Dives; cf. n. 40 God's angel; cf. n. 



74 The First Part of 

thy face, the son of utter darkness. When thou 
rannest up Gadshill in the night to catch my 
horse, if I did not think thou hadst been an 
ignis fatuus or a ball of wildfire, there's no 
purchase in money. O ! thou art a perpetual 
triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light. Thou hast 
saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, 
walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern 
and tavern: but the sack that thou hast drunk 
me would have bought me lights as good cheap 
at the dearest chandler's in Europe. I have 
maintained that salamander of yours with fire 
any time this two-and-thirty years; God reward 
me for it! 55 

Bard. 'Sblood, I would my face were in your 
belly. 

Fal. God-a-mercy! so should I be sure to be 
heart-burned. 

Enter Hostess. 
How now, Dame Partlet the hen ! have you 
inquired yet who picked my pocket? 61 

Host. Why, Sir John, what do you think, 
Sir John? Do you think I keep thieves in my 
house? I have searched, I have inquired, so has 
my husband, man by man, boy by boy, servant 
by servant: the tithe of a hair was never lost in 
my house before. 67 

Fal. You lie, hostess: Bardolph was shaved 
and lost many a hair; and I'll be sworn my 
pocket was picked. Go to, you are a woman ; go. 

Host. Who, I? No; I defy thee: God's light! 

45 ignis fatuus: will o' the wisp 48 links: torches 

51 as good cheap: at as good a bargain 

53 salamander: mythical animal supposed to live in fire 

60 Partlet; cf. n. 



King Henry the Fourth, III. in 75 

I was never called so in my own house before. 72 

Fal. Go to, I know you well enough. 

Host. No, Sir John; you do not know me, 
Sir John: I know you, Sir John: you owe me 
money, Sir John, and now you pick a quarrel to 
beguile me of it: I bought you a dozen of shirts 
to your back. 78 

Fal. Dowlas, filthy dowlas: I have given 
them away to bakers' wives, and they have 
made bolters of them. 81 

Host. Now, as I am true woman, holland of 
eight shillings an ell. You owe money here be- 
sides, Sir John, for your diet and by-drinkings, 
and money lent you, four-and-twenty pound. 85 

Fal. He had his part of it; let him pay. 

Host. He! alas! he is poor; he hath nothing. 

Fal. How ! poor ? look upon his face ; what 
call you rich? let them coin his nose, let them 
coin his cheeks. I'll not pay a denier. What! 
will you make a younker of me? shall I not take 
mine ease in mine inn but I shall have my 
pocket picked? I have lost a seal-ring of my 
grandfather's worth forty mark. 

Host. O Jesu! I have heard the prince tell 
him, I know not how oft, that that ring was 
copper. 97 

Fal. How! the prince is a Jack, a sneak-cup; 
'sblood! an he were here, I would cudgel him 
like a dog, if he would say so. 100 

Enter the Prince and Veto marching. Falstaff meets 
them, playing on his truncheon like a fife. 

79 dowlas: coarse linen 81 bolters: sieves 82 holland: fine linen 
83 ell: yard and a quarter 90 denier: the tenth part of a penny 

91 younker: young greenhorn 
98 sneak-cup: one who shirks his liquor (?) 



76 The First Part of 

Fal. How now, lad! is the wind in that door, 
i' faith? must we all march? 

Bard. Yea, two and two, Newgate fashion. 

Host. My lord, I pray you, hear me. 104 

Prince. What sayest thou, Mistress Quickly? 
How does thy husband? I love him well, he is 
an honest man. 

Host. Good my lord, hear me. 108 

Fal. Prithee, let her alone, and list to me. 

Prince. What sayest thou, Jack? 

Fal. The other night I fell asleep here behind 
the arras and had my pocket picked: this house 
is turned bawdy-house ; they pick pockets. 113 

Prince. What didst thou lose, Jack? 

Fal. Wilt thou believe me, Hal? three or four 
bonds of forty pound a-piece, and a seal-ring of 
my grandfather's. 117 

Prince. A trifle; some eight-penny matter. 

Host. So I told him, my lord; and I said I 
heard your Grace say so : and, my lord, he speaks 
most vilely of you, like a foul-mouthed man as 
he is, and said he would cudgel you. 122 

Prince. What! he did not? 

Host. There's neither faith, truth, nor wo- 
manhood in me else. 125 

Fal. There's no more faith in thee than in a 
stewed prune; nor no more truth in thee than 
in a drawn fox; and for womanhood, Maid 
Marian may be the deputy's wife of the ward to 
thee. Go, you thing, go. 

Host. Say, what thing? what thing? 

103 Newgate: a prison 

128 drawn fox: a fox driven from cover and tricky in his attempts to 

get back 
128-129 Cf.n. 



King Henry the Fourth, III. Hi 77 

Fal. What thing! why, a thing to thank 
God on. 133 

Host. I am no thing to thank God on, I 
would thou shouldst know it; I am an honest 
man's wife; and, setting thy knighthood aside, 
thou art a knave to call me so. 137 

Fal. Setting thy womanhood aside, thou art 
a beast to say otherwise. 

Host. Say, what beast, thou knave thou? 140 

Fal. What beast! why, an otter. 

Prince. An otter, Sir John ! why, an otter ? 

Fal. Why? she's neither fish nor flesh; a 
man knows not where to have her. 144 

Host. Thou art an unjust man in saying so: 
thou or any man knows where to have me, thou 
knave thou! 

Prince. Thou sayest true, hostess; and he 
slanders thee most grossly. 149 

Host. So he doth you, my lord; and said this 
other day you ought him a thousand pound. 

Prince. Sirrah! do I owe you a thousand 
pound ? 153 

Fal. A thousand pound, Hal! a million: thy 
love is worth a million; thou owest me thy love. 

Host. Nay, my lord, he called you Jack, and 
said he would cudgel you. 157 

Fal. Did I, Bardolph? 

Bard. Indeed, Sir John, you said so. 

Fal. Yea ; if he said my ring was copper. 160 

Prince. I say 'tis copper: darest thou be as 
good as thy word now? 

Fal. Why, Hal, thou knowest, as thou art 

151 ought: owed 



78 The First Part of 

but man, I dare; but as thou art prince, I fear 
thee as I fear the roaring of the lion's whelp. 165 

Prince. And why not as the lion? 

Fal. The king himself is to be feared as the 
lion: dost thou think I'll fear thee as I fear thy 
father? nay, an I do, I pray God my girdle 
break ! 170 

Prince. O ! if it should, how would thy guts 
fall about thy knees. But, sirrah, there's no 
room for faith, truth, or honesty in this bosom 
of thine; it is all filled up with guts and midriff. 
Charge an honest woman with picking thy pocket ! 
Why, thou whoreson, impudent, embossed rascal, 
if there were any thing in thy pocket but tavern 
reckonings, memorandums of bawdy-houses, and 
one poor pennyworth of sugar-candy to make 
thee long-winded; if thy pocket were enriched 
with any other injuries but these, I am a villain. 
And yet you will stand to it, you will not pocket 
up wrong. Art thou not ashamed? 183 

Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? thou knowest in 
the state of innocency Adam fell; and what 
should poor Jack Falstaff do in the days of 
villainy? Thou seest I have more flesh than 
another man, and therefore more frailty. You 
confess then, you picked my pocket? 189 

Prince. It appears so by the story. 

Fal. Hostess, I forgive thee. Go make ready 
breakfast ; love thy husband, look to thy servants, 
cherish thy guests: thou shalt find me tractable 
to any honest reason: thou seest I am pacified 
still. Nay prithee, be gone. Exit Hostess. 

176 embossed : swollen 181 injuries; cf. n. 



King Henry the Fourth, III. Hi 79 

Now, Hal, to the news at court: for the robbery, 
lad, how is that answered? 197 

Prince. O ! my sweet beef, I must still be good 
angel to thee: the money is paid back again. 

Fal. O ! I do not like that paying back ; 'tis 
a double labour. 201 

Prince. I am good friends with my father 
and may do anything. 

Fal. Rob me the exchequer the first thing 
thou dost, and do it with unwashed hands too. 
Bard. Do, my lord. 

Prince. I have procured thee, Jack, a charge 
of foot. 208 

Fal. I would it had been of horse. Where 
shall I find one that can steal well ? O ! for a 
fine thief, of the age of two-and-twenty, or there- 
abouts; I am heinously unprovided. Well, God 
be thanked for these rebels; they offend none 
but the virtuous: I laud them, I praise them. 
Prince. Bardolph! 

Bard. My lord? 216 

Prince. Go bear this letter to Lord John of 
Lancaster, 
To my brother John; this to my Lord of West- 
moreland. 
Go, Peto, to horse, to horse! for thou and I 
Have thirty miles to ride ere dinner-time. 220 

Jack, meet me to-morrow in the Temple-hall 
At two o'clock in the afternoon: 

There shalt thou know thy charge, and there receive 
Money and order for their furniture. 224 

The land is burning; Percy stands on high; 

205 unwashed hands; cf. n. 224 furniture: equipment 



so The First Part of 

And either we or they must lower lie. 

Fal. Rare words ! brave world ! Hostess, my break- 
fast ; come ! 
O! I could wish this tavern were my drum. 228 

Exeunt omnes. 



ACT FOURTH 

Scene One 

[Shrewsbury. The rebel camp] 

Enter Harry Hotspur, Worcester, and Douglas. 

Hot. Well said, my noble Scot: if speaking truth 
In this fine age were not thought flattery, 
Such attribution should the Douglas have, 
As not a soldier of this season's stamp 4 

Should go so general current through the world. 
By God, I cannot flatter; do defy 
The tongues of soothers; but a braver place 
In my heart's love hath no man than yourself. 8 

Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord. 

Doug. Thou art the the king of honour: 
No man so potent breathes upon the ground 
But I will beard him. 

Hot. Do so, and 'tis well. 12 

Enter a Messenger. 

What letters hast thou there? I can but thank you. 
Mess. These letters come from your father. 
Hot. Letters from him! why comes he not himself? 

228 drum; cf. n. 3 attribution: praise 4-5 Cf.n. 

6 defy: despise 7 soothers: flatterers 

9 task me to my word: challenge me to make good my word approve: 
test 



King Henry the Fourth, IV. i 81 

Mess. He cannot come, my lord: he's grievous 
sick. 16 

Hot. 'Zounds ! how has he the leisure to be sick 
In such a justling time? Who leads his power? 
Under whose government come they along? 

Mess. His letters bear his mind, not I, my lord. 20 

TV or. I prithee, tell me, doth he keep his bed? 

Mess. He did, my lord, four days ere I set forth; 
And at the time of my departure thence 
He was much fear'd by his physicians. 24 

Wor. I would the state of time had first been whole 
Ere he by sickness had been visited: 
His health was never better worth than now. 

Hot. Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth 
infect 28 

The very life-blood of our enterprise; 
'Tis catching hither, even to our camp. 

He writes me here, that inward sickness 

And that his friends by deputation could not 32 

So soon be drawn; nor did he think it meet 

To lay so dangerous and dear a trust 

On any soul remov'd but on his own. 

Yet doth he give us bold advertisement, 36 

That with our small conjunction we should on, 

To see how fortune is dispos'd to us; 

For, as he writes, there is no quailing now, 

Because the king is certainly possess'd 40 

Of all our purposes. What say you to it? 

Wor. Your father's sickness is a maim to us. 

Hot. A perilous gash, a very limb lopp'd off: 
And yet, in faith, 'tis not; his present want 44 

Seems more than we shall find it. Were it good 

18 justling: busy 36 advertisement: advice 

37 conjunction: united forces 40 possess'd: informed 

44 his present want: his absence now 



82 The First Part of 

To set the exact wealth of all our states 

All at one cast? to set so rich a main 

On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour? 48 

It were not good; for therein should we read 

The very bottom and the soul of hope, 

The very list, the very utmost bound 

Of all our fortunes. 

Doug. Faith, and so we should; 52 

Where now remains a sweet reversion: 
We may boldly spend upon the hope of what 
Is to come in: 
A comfort of retirement lives in this. 56 

Hot. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto, 
If that the devil and mischance look big 
Upon the maidenhead of our affairs. 

Wor. But yet, I would your father had been 
here. 60 

The quality and hair of our attempt 
Brooks no division. It will be thought 
By some, that know not why he is away, 
That wisdom, loyalty, and mere dislike 64 

Of our proceedings, kept the earl from hence. 
And think how such an apprehension 
May turn the tide of fearful faction 
And breed a kind of question in our cause; 68 

For well you know we of the offering side 
Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement, 
And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence 
The eye of reason may pry in upon us : 72 

This absence of your father's draws a curtain, 
That shows the ignorant a kind of fear 

47 main: stake 48 nice: slender, precarious 

51 list: limit 53, 56 Cf. n. 61 hair: nature 

67 fearful: timid 69 the offering side: the offensive 

70 arbitrement: judicial inquiry 73 draws : draws aside 



King Henry the Fourth, IV. i 83 

Before not dreamt of. 

Hot. You strain too far. 

I rather of his absence make this use: 76 

It lends a lustre and more great opinion, 
A larger dare to our great enterprise, 
Than if the earl were here; for men must think, 
If we without his help can make a head 80 

To push against the kingdom, with his help 
We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down. 
Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole. 

Doug. As heart can think: there is not such a 
word 84 

Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear. 

Enter Sir Richard Vernon. 

Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul. 

Ver. Pray God my news be worth a welcome, lord. 
The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, 
Is marching hitherwards ; with him Prince John. 

Hot. No harm: what more? 

Ver. And further, I have learn'd, 

The king himself in person is set forth, 
Or hitherwards intended speedily, 92 

With strong and mighty preparation. 

Hot. He shall be welcome too. Where is his son, 
The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales, 
And his comrades, that daff'd the world aside, 96 

And bid it pass ? 

Ver. All furnish'd, all in arms, 

All plum'd like estridges that with the wind 
Baited like eagles having lately bath'd, 
Glittering in golden coats, like images, 100 

As full of spirit as the month of May, 

77 opinion: reputation 96 daff'd: thrust 

97 furnish'd: equipped 98-99 Cf. n. 100 Cf. n. 



8* The First Part of 

And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer, 

Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls. 

I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, 104 

His cushes on his thighs, gallantly arm'd, 

Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury, 

And vaulted with such ease into his seat, 

As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds, 

To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus 109 

And witch the world with noble horsemanship. 

Hot. No more, no more: worse than the sun in 
March 
This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come; 
They come like sacrifices in their trim, 113 

And to the fire-ey'd maid of smoky war 
All hot and bleeding will we offer them: 
The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit 116 

Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire 
To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh 
And yet not ours. Come, let me taste my horse, 
Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt 120 

Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales: 
Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse, 
Meet and ne'er part till one drop down a corse. 
O ! that Glendower were come. 

Vet. There is more news: 124 

I learn'd in Worcester, as I rode along, 
He cannot draw his power these fourteen days. 

Doug. That's the worst tidings that I hear of yet. 

Wor. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty 
sound. 128 

Hot. What may the king's whole battle reach unto ? 

Ver. To thirty thousand. 

104 beaver: helmet 105 cushes: cuisses, thigh-armor 

109 wind: wheel round 111-112 Cf.n. 

113 trim: trappings 118 reprisal: prize 



King Henry the Fourth, IV. ii 85 

Hot. Forty let it be: 

My father and Glendower being both away, 
rhe powers of us may serve so great a day. 132 

3ome, let us take a muster speedily: 
Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily. 

Doug. Talk not of dying: I am out of fear 
Di death or death's hand for this one half year. 

Exeunt Omnes. 

Scene Two 

[A Road near Coventry"] 

Enter Falstaff and Bardolph. 

Fal. Bardolph, get thee before to Coventry; 
fill me a bottle of sack: our soldiers shall march 
through: we'll to Sutton-Co'fiT to-night. 

Bard. Will you give me money, captain? 4 

Fal. Lay out, lay out. 

Bard. This bottle makes an angel. 

Fal. An if it do, take it for thy labour; and 
if it make twenty, take them all, I'll answer the 
coinage. Bid my Lieutenant Peto meet me at 
the town's end. 10 

Bard. I will, captain: farewell. Exit. 

Fal. If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am 
a soused gurnet. I have misused the king's press 
damnably. I have got, in exchange of a hundred 
and fifty soldiers, three hundred and odd pounds. 
I press me none but good householders, yeomen's 
sons; inquire me out contracted bachelors, such 
as had been asked twice on the banns; such a 

3 Sutton-Co'fil'; cf. n. 6 makes an angel; cf. n. 

13 soused gurnet: pickled fish king's press: royal warrant for 

conscripting troops 
16 yeomen's: small freeholders' 17 contracted: i.e., to be married 

18-19 Cf. n. 



86 The First Part of 

commodity of warm slaves, as had as lief hear the 
devil as a drum; such as fear the report of a 20 
caliver worse than a struck fowl or a hurt wild- 
duck. I pressed me none but such toasts-and- 
butter, with hearts in their bellies no bigger than 
pins' heads, and they have bought out their ser- 
vices; and now my whole charge consists of 
ancients, corporals, lieutenants, gentlemen of 
companies, slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the 
painted cloth, where the glutton's dogs licked his 
sores ; and such as indeed were never soldiers, but 
discarded unjust serving-men, younger sons to 30 
younger brothers, revolted tapsters and ostlers 
trade-fallen, the cankers of a calm world and a 
long peace ; ten times more dishonourable ragged 
than an old faced ancient: and such have I, to 
fill up the rooms of them that have bought out 
their services, that you would think that I had a 
hundred and fifty tattered prodigals, lately come 
from swine-keeping, from eating draff and husks. 
A mad fellow met me on the way and told me I 
had unloaded all the gibbets and pressed the 40 
dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scarecrows. 
I'll not march through Coventry with them, 
that's flat: nay, and the villains march wide be- 
twixt the legs, as if they had gyves on; for, in- 
deed I had the most of them out of prison. 
There's but a shirt and a half in all my com- 
pany; and the half shirt is two napkins tacked 
together and thrown over the shoulders like a 

19 commodity: stock warm: luxury-loving 

21 caliver: musket 26 ancients: ensigns 

27 Lazarus; cf. III. Hi. 36, n. 

28 painted cloth: hangings decorated with figures 32 cankers: worms 
34 faced ancient: patched flag 37 prodigals; cf. n. 
38 draff : pig-wash 44 gyves: fetters 



King Henry the Fourth, IV. ii 87 

herald's coat without sleeves; and the shirt, to 
say the truth, stolen from my host at Saint 
Alban's, or the red-nose inn-keeper of Daventry. 
But that's all one; they'll find linen enough on 
every hedge. 53 

Enter the Prince, and the Lord of Westmoreland. 

Prince. How now, blown Jack! how now, 
quilt ! 

Fal. What, Hal ! How now, mad wag ! what a 
devil dost thou in Warwickshire ? My good Lord 
of Westmoreland, I cry you mercy: I thought 
your honour had already been at Shrewsbury. 

West. Faith, Sir John, 'tis more than time 
that I were there, and you too; but my powers 
are there already. The king, I can tell you, looks 
for us all: we must away all night. 63 

Fal. Tut, never fear me: I am as vigilant as 
a cat to steal cream. 

Prince. I think to steal cream indeed, for 
thy theft hath already made thee butter. But 
tell me, Jack, whose fellows are these that come 
after? 

Fal. Mine, Hal, mine. 70 

Prince. I did never see such pitiful rascals. 

Fal. Tut, tut; good enough to toss; food for 
powder, food for powder ; they'll fill a pit as well 
as better: tush, man, mortal men, mortal men. 

West. Ay, but, Sir John, methinks they are 
exceeding poor and bare; too beggarly. 76 

Fal. Faith, for their poverty, I know not 
where they had that; and for their bareness, I 
am sure they never learned that of me. 79 

54 blown: swollen 

58 cry you mercy: beg your pardon 72 to toss: i.e., upon a pike 



88 The First Part of 



Prince. No, I'll be sworn; unless you call 
three fingers on the ribs bare. But sirrah, make 
haste: Percy is already in the field. 
Fal. What, is the king encamped? 
West. He is, Sir John: I fear we shall stay too 

long. 84 

Fal. Well, 
To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a 

feast 
Fits a dull fighter and a keen guest. Exeunt. 

Scene Three 

[Shrewsbury. The rebel camp] 

Enter Hotspur, Worcester, Douglas, and Vernon. 

Hot. We'll fight with him to-night. 

Wor. It may not be. 

Doug. You give him then advantage. 

Ver. Not a whit. 

Hot. Why say you so? looks he not for supply? 

Ver. So do we. 

Hot. His is certain, ours is doubtful. 4 

Wor. Good cousin, be advis'd: stir not to-night. 

Ver. Do not, my lord. 

Doug. You do not counsel well: 

You speak it out of fear and cold heart. 

Ver. Do me no slander, Douglas: by my life, — 
And I dare well maintain it with my life, — 9 

If well-respected honour bid me on, 
I hold as little counsel with weak fear 
As you, my lord, or any Scot that this day lives : 
Let it be seen to-morrow in the battle 13 

Which of us fears. 

84 stay: linger 10 well-respected: well-considered, reasonable 



King Henry the Fourth, IV. Hi 89 

Doug. Yea, or to-night. 

Ver. Content. 

Hot. To-night, say I. 

Ver. Come, come, it may not be. I wonder 
much, 16 

Being men of such great leading as you are, 
That you foresee not what impediments 
Drag back our expedition: certain horse 
Of my cousin Vernon's are not yet come up: 20 

Your uncle Worcester's horse came but to-day; 
And now their pride and mettle is asleep, 
Their courage with hard labour tame and dull, 
That not a horse is half the half of himself. 24 

Hot. So are the horses of the enemy 
In general, journey-bated and brought low: 
The better part of ours are full of rest. 

Wor. The number of the king exceedeth ours : 
For God's sake, cousin, stay till all come in. 29 

The trumpet sounds a parley. 
Enter Sir Walter Blunt. 

Blunt. I come with gracious offers from the king, 
If you vouchsafe me hearing and respect. 

Hot. Welcome, Sir Walter Blunt; and would to 
God 32 

You were of our determination ! 
Some of us love you well; and even those some 
Envy your great deservings and good name, 
Because you are not of our quality, 36 

But stand against us like an enemy. 

Blunt. And God defend but still I should stand so, 
So long as out of limit and true rule 
You stand against anointed majesty. 40 

17 leading: generalship 26 journey-bated: wearied with travel 

31 respect: attention 36 quality : profession, party 38 defend: forbid 



90 The First Part of 

But, to my charge. The king hath sent to know 

The nature of your griefs, and whereupon 

You conjure from the breast of civil peace 

Such bold hostility, teaching his duteous land 44 

Audacious cruelty. If that the king 

Have any way your good deserts forgot, — 

Which he confesseth to be manifold, — 

He bids you name your griefs ; and with all speed 48 

You shall have your desires with interest, 

And pardon absolute for yourself and these 

Herein misled by your suggestion. 

Hot. The king is kind; and well we know the 
king 52 

Knows at what time to promise, when to pay. 
My father and my uncle and myself 
Did give him that same royalty he wears; 
And when he was not six-and-twenty strong, 56 

Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low, 
A poor unminded outlaw sneaking home, 
My father gave him welcome to the shore ; 
And when he heard him swear and vow to God 
He came but to be Duke of Lancaster, 61 

To sue his livery and beg his peace, 
With tears of innocency and terms of zeal, 
My father, in kind heart and pity mov'd, 64 

Swore him assistance and perform'd it too. 
Now when the lords and barons of the realm 
Perceiv'd Northumberland did lean to him, 
The more and less came in with cap and knee ; 
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages, 69 

Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes, 
Laid gifts before him, proffer'd him their oaths, 

51 suggestion : instigation 

62 sue his livery: bring suit for the delivery of his lands 

68 more and less: great and small 70 attended: awaited 



King Henry the Fourth, IV. Hi 91 

Gave him their heirs as pages, follow'd him 72 

Even at the heels in golden multitudes. 

He presently, as greatness knows itself, 

Steps me a little higher than his vow 

Made to my father, while his blood was poor, 76 

Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurgh; 

And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform 

Some certain edicts and some strait decrees 

That lie too heavy on the commonwealth, 80 

Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep 

Over his country's wrongs ; and by this face, 

This seeming brow of justice, did he win 

The hearts of all that he did angle for ; 84 

Proceeded further; cut me off the heads 

Of all the favourites that the absent king 

In deputation left behind him here, 

When he was personal in the Irish war. 88 

Blunt. Tut, I came not to hear this. 

Hot. Then to the point. 

In short time after, he depos'd the king; 
Soon after that, depriv'd him of his life; 
And, in the neck of that, task'd the whole state; 
To make that worse, suffer'd his kinsman March — 93 
Who is, if every owner were well plac'd, 
Indeed his king — to be engag'd in Wales, 
There without ransom to lie forfeited; 96 

Disgrac'd me in my happy victories ; 
Sought to entrap me by intelligence; 
Rated my uncle from the council-board; 
In rage dismiss'd my father from the court; 100 

Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong; 

79 strait: strict 88 personal : in person 92 task'd: taxed 

95 engag'd: held as hostage 

98 intelligence: information obtained through spies 

99 rated : drove azuay by chiding 



92 The First Part of 

And in conclusion drove us to seek out 

This head of safety; and withal to pry 

Into his title, the which we find 104 

Too indirect for long continuance. 

Blunt. Shall I return this answer to the king? 

Hot. Not so, Sir Walter: we'll withdraw awhile. 
Go to the king; and let there be impawn'd 108 

Some surety for a safe return again, 
And in the morning early shall my uncle 
Bring him our purposes ; and so farewell. 

Blunt. I would you would accept of grace and 
love. 112 

Hot. And may be so we shall. 

Blunt. Pray God, you do! 

Exeunt. 

Scene Four 

[York. The Archbishop's Palace] 

Enter the Archbishop of York and Sir Michael. 

Arch. Hie, good Sir Michael; bear this sealed brief 
With winged haste to the lord marshal; 
This to my cousin Scroop, and all the rest 
To whom they are directed. If you knew 4 

How much they do import, you would make haste. 

Sir M. My good lord, 
I guess their tenour. 

Arch. Like enough you do. 

To-morrow, good Sir Michael, is a day 8 

Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men 
Must bide the touch; for, sir, at Shrewsbury, 
As I am truly given to understand, 
The king with mighty and quick-raised power 12 

103 head of safety: army for protection 105 indirect: crooked 

1 brief: letter 10 bide the touch: be put to the test 



King Henry the Fourth, IV. iv 9* 3 

Meets with Lord Harry: and, I fear, Sir Michael, 

What with the sickness of Northumberland, — 

Whose power was in the first proportion, — 

And what with Owen Glendower's absence thence, 16 

Who with them was a rated sinew too, 

And comes not in, o'er-rul'd by prophecies, — 

I fear the power of Percy is too weak 

To wage an instant trial with the king. 20 

Sir M. Why, my good lord, you need not fear : 
There is the Douglas and Lord Mortimer. 

Arch. No, Mortimer is not there. 

SirM. But there is Mordake, Vernon, Lord Harry 
Percy, 24 

And there's my Lord of Worcester, and a head 
Of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen. 

Arch. And so there is; but yet the king hath drawn 
The special head of all the land together: 28 

The Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, 
The noble Westmoreland, and war-like Blunt; 
And many moe corrivals and dear men 
Of estimation and command in arms. 32 

SirM. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be well 
oppos'd. 

Arch. I hope no less, yet needful 'tis to fear; 
And, to prevent the worse, Sir Michael, speed: 
For if Lord Percy thrive not, ere the king 36 

Dismiss his power, he means to visit us, 
For he hath heard of our confederacy, 
And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against him: 
Therefore make haste. I must go write again 40 

To other friends; and so farewell, Sir Michael. 

Exeunt. 

17 rated sinew: strength on which they counted 

31 moe corrivals: more comrades dear: valued 

32 estimation: reputation 



94 The First Part of 

ACT FIFTH 

Scene One 

[Shrewsbury. The King's Camp] 

Enter the King, Prince of Wales, Lord John of 
Lancaster, Sir Walter Blunt, and Falstaff. 

King. How bloodily the sun begins to peer 
Above yon busky hill ! the day looks pale 
At his distemperature. 

Prince. The southern wind 

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes, 4 

And by his hollow whistling in the leaves 
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day. 

King. Then with the losers let it sympathize, 
For nothing can seem foul to those that win. 8 

The trumpet sounds. 

Enter Worcester [and Vernon], 

How now, my Lord of Worcester ! 'tis not well 

That you and I should meet upon such terms 

As now we meet. You have deceiv'd our trust, 

And made us doff our easy robes of peace, 12 

To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel. 

This is not well, my lord ; this is not well. 

What say you to it? will you again unknit 

This churlish knot of all-abhorred war, 16 

And move in that obedient orb again 

Where you did give a fair and natural light, 

And be no more an exhal'd meteor, 

A prodigy of fear and a portent 20 

2 busky: bushy 3 distemperature: inclemency, ill-humour 

13 old limbs; cf. n. 17 obedient orb: sphere of obedience 

19 exhal'd: drawn forth; especially vapours drawn forth by the sun 
and producing meteors 



King Henry the Fourth, V. i 95 

Of broached mischief to the unborn times? 

Wor. Hear me, my liege. 
For mine own part, I could be well content 
To entertain the lag-end of my life 24 

With quiet hours ; for I do protest 
I have not sought the day of this dislike. 

King. You have not sought it ! how comes it then ? 

Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it. 

Prince. Peace, chewet, peace ! 29 

Wor. It pleas'd your majesty to turn your looks 
Of favour from myself and all our house; 
And yet I must remember you, my lord, 32 

We were the first and dearest of your friends. 
For you my staff of office did I break 
In Richard's time; and posted day and night 
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand, 36 

When yet you were in place and in account 
Nothing so strong and fortunate as I. 
It was myself, my brother, and his son, 
That brought you home and boldly did outdare 
The dangers of the time. You swore to us, 41 

And you did swear that oath at Doncaster, 
That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state, 
Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n right, 
The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster. 45 

To this we swore our aid: but, in short space 
It rain'd down fortune showering on your head, 
And such a flood of greatness fell on you, 48 

What with our help, what with the absent king, 
What with the injuries of a wanton time, 
The seeming sufferances that you had borne, 
And the contrarious winds that held the king 52 

21 broached: begun 29 chewet: jackdaw (?) 

SO wanton time : frivolou s reign 51 sufferances: sufferings 



96 The First Part of 

So long in his unlucky Irish wars, 

That all in England did repute him dead: 

And from this swarm of fair advantages 

You took occasion to be quickly woo'd 56 

To gripe the general sway into your hand; 

Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster; 

And being fed by us you us'd us so 

As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird, 60 

Useth the sparrow: did oppress our nest, 

Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk 

That even our love durst not come near your sight 

For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing 64 

We were enforc'd, for safety's sake, to fly 

Out of your sight and raise this present head; 

Whereby we stand opposed by such means 

As you yourself have forg'd against yourself 68 

By unkind usage, dangerous countenance, 

And violation of all faith and troth 

Sworn to us in your younger enterprise. 

King. These things indeed, you have articulate, 72 
Proclaim'd at market-crosses, read in churches, 
To face the garment of rebellion 
With some fine colour that may please the eye 
Of fickle changelings and poor discontents, 76 

Which gape and rub the elbow at the news 
Of hurlyburly innovation: 
And never yet did insurrection want 
Such water-colours to impaint his cause; 80 

Nor moody beggars, starving for a time 
Of pell-mell havoc and confusion. 

Prince. In both our armies there is many a soul 
Shall pay full dearly for this encounter, 84 

60 gull: an unfledged nestling; cf. n. 69 dangerous: threatening 

72 articulate: set forth in articles 

74 face: trim 78 innovation: revolution 



King Henry the Fourth, V, i 97 

If once they join in trial. Tell your nephew, 
The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world 
In praise of Henry Percy: by my hopes, 
This present enterprise set off his head, 88 

I do not think a braver gentleman, 
More active-valiant or more valiant-young, 
More daring or more bold, is now alive 
To grace this latter age with nojble deeds. 92 

For my part, I may speak it to my shame, 
I have a truant been to chivalry; 
And so I hear he doth account me too ; 
Yet this before my father's majesty: — 96 

I am content that he shall take the odds 
Of his great name and estimation, 
And will, to save the blood on either side, 
Try fortune with him in a single fight. 100 

King. And, Prince of Wales, so dare we venture 
thee, 
Albeit considerations infinite 
Do make against it. No, good Worcester, no, 
We love our people well; even those we love 104 

That are misled upon your cousin's part; 
And, will they take the offer of our grace, 
Both he and they and you, yea, every man 
Shall be my friend again, and I'll be his. 108 

So tell your cousin, and bring me word 
What he will do ; but if he will not yield, 
Rebuke and dread correction wait on us, 
And they shall do their office. So, be gone: 112 

We will not now be troubled with reply; 
We offer fair, take it advisedly. 

Exit Worcester [with Vernon']. 

88 set off his head: taken from his account 
111 wait on us : are in our service 



98 The First Part of 

Prince. It will not be accepted, on my life. 

The Douglas and the Hotspur both together 116 

Are confident against the world in arms. 

King. Hence, therefore, every leader to his charge ; 

For, on their answer, will we set on them; 

And God befriend us, as our cause is just! 120 

Exeunt. Manet Prince and Falstaff. 

Fal. Hal, if thou see me down in the battle, 

and bestride me, so; 'tis a point of friendship. 

Prince. Nothing but a colossus can do thee 

that friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell. 

Fal. I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all 

well. 126 

Prince. Why, thou owest God a death. 

[Exit Prince.] 

Fal. 'Tis not due yet: I would be loath to 

pay him before his day. What need I be so 

forward with him that calls not on me? Well, 

'tis no matter; honour pricks me on. Yea, but 

how if honour prick me off when I come on? 

how then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an 

arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? 

No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No. 

What is honour? a word. What is that word, 

honour? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? 

he that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? 

No. Doth he hear it? No. It is insensible 

then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live 

with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not 

suffer it. Therefore I'll none of it: honour is a 

mere scutcheon ; and so ends my catechism. 143 

Exit. 

127-128 Cf. n. 

143 scutcheon: shield with armorial bearings, carried in funeral pro- 
cessions 



King Henry the Fourth, V. ii 99 

Scene Two 

[Shrewsbury. The Rebel Camp'] 

Enter Worcester and Sir Richard Vernon. 

Wor. O, no! my nephew must not know, Sir 
Richard, 
The liberal kind offer of the king. 

Ver. 'Twere best he did. 

Wor. Then are we all undone. 

It is not possible, it cannot be, 4 

The king should keep his word in loving us ; 
He will suspect us still, and find a time 
To punish this offence in other faults: 
Suspicion all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes ; 8 
For treason is but trusted like the fox, 
Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up, 
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors. 
Look how we can, or sad or merrily, 12 

Interpretation will misquote our looks, 
And we shall feed like oxen at a stall, 
The better cherish'd, still the nearer death. 
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot, 16 

It hath the excuse of youth and heat of blood; 
And an adopted name of privilege, 
A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen. 
All his offences live upon my head 20 

And on his father's: we did train him on; 
And, his corruption being ta'en from us, 
We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all. 
Therefore, good cousin, let not Harry know 24 

In any case the offer of the king. 

18 adopted name of privilege: nickname which carries certain privi- 
leges with it 



ioo The First Part of 

Ver. Deliver what you will, I'll say 'tis so. 
Here comes your cousin. 

Enter Hotspur [and Douglas]. 

Hot. My uncle is return'd: deliver up 28 

My Lord of Westmoreland. Uncle, what news? 

Wor. The king will bid you battle presently. 

Doug. Defy him by the Lord of Westmoreland. 

Hot. Lord Douglas, go you and tell him so. 32 

Doug. Marry, and shall, and very willingly. 

Exit Douglas. 

Wor. There is no seeming mercy in the king. 

Hot . Did you beg any ? God forbid ! 

Wor. I told him gently of our grievances, 36 

Of his oath-breaking; which he mended thus, 
By now forswearing that he is forsworn: 
He calls us rebels, traitors ; and will scourge 
With haughty arms this hateful name in us. 40 

Enter Douglas. 

Doug. Arm, gentlemen ! to arms ! for I have thrown 
A brave defiance in King Henry's teeth, 
And Westmoreland, that was engag'd, did bear it ; 
Which cannot choose but bring him quickly on. 

Wor. The Prince of Wales stepp'd forth before the 
king, 45 

And, nephew, challeng'd you to single fight. 

Hot . O ! would the quarrel lay upon our heads, 
And that no man might draw short breath to-day 4S 
But I and Harry Monmouth. Tell me, tell me, 
How show'd his tasking? seem'd it in contempt? 

Ver. No, by my soul ; I never in my life 
Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly, 52: 

50 tasking: challenge 



King Henry the Fourth, V. ii 101 

Unless a brother should a brother dare 

To gentle exercise and proof of arms. 

He gave you all the duties of a man, 

Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue, 

Spoke your deservings like a chronicle, 57 

Making you ever better than his praise, 

By still dispraising praise valu'd with you; 

And, which became him like a prince indeed, 60 

He made a blushing cital of himself, 

And chid his truant youth with such a grace 

As if he master'd there a double spirit 

Of teaching and of learning instantly. 64 

There did he pause. But let me tell the world, 

If he outlive the envy of this day, 

England did never owe so sweet a hope, 

So much misconstru'd in his wantonness. 68 

Hot. Cousin, I think thou art enamoured 
On his follies : never did I hear 
Of any prince so wild a libertine. 

But be he as he will, yet once ere night 72 

I will embrace him with a soldier's arm, 
That he shall shrink under my courtesy. 
Arm, arm, with speed! And, fellows, soldiers, 

friends, 
Better consider what you have to do, 76 

Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue, 
Can lift your blood up with persuasion. 

Enter a Messenger. 

Mess. My lord, here are letters for you. 

Hot. I cannot read them now. 80 

O gentlemen ! the time of life is short ; 
To spend that shortness basely were too long, 

55 duties: compliments 61 cital of: reference to 67 owe: own 



102 The First Part of 

If life did ride upon a dial's point, 

Still ending at the arrival of an hour. 84 

An if we live, we live to tread on kings ; 

If die, brave death, when princes die with us ! 

Now, for our consciences, the arms are fair, 

When the intent of bearing them is just. 88 

Enter another Messenger. 

Mess. My lord, prepare; the king comes on apace. 

Hot. I thank him that he cuts me from my tale, 
For I profess not talking. Only this, — 
Let each man do his best: and here draw I 92 

A sword, whose temper I intend to stain 
With the best blood that I can meet withal 
In the adventure of this perilous day. 
Now, Esperance! Percy! and set on. 96 

Sound all the lofty instruments of war, 
And by that music let us all embrace ; 
For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall 
A second time do such a courtesy. 100 

Here they embrace; the trumpets sound. 

[Exeunt.'] 

[Scene Three 
The battle field] 

The King entereth with his power. Alarum unto the 
battle. Then enter Douglas and Sir Walter 
Blunt. 

Blunt. What is thy name, that in the battle thus 
Thou crossest me? what honour dost thou seek 
Upon my head? 

Doug. Know then, my name is Douglas; 

83 dial's point: hand of a clock 



King Henry the Fourth, V. Hi 103 

And I do haunt thee in the battle thus 4 

Because some tell me that thou art a king. 

Blunt. They tell thee true. 

Doug. The Lord of Stafford dear to-day hath 
bought 
Thy likeness; for, instead of thee, King Harry, 8 

This sword hath ended him: so shall it thee, 
Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner. 

Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot; 
And thou shalt find a king that will revenge 12 

Lord Stafford's death. 

They -fight. Douglas kills Blunt. 
Then enter Hotspur. 

Hot. O, Douglas, hadst thou fought at Holmedon 
thus, 
I never had triumph'd upon a Scot. 

Doug. All's done, all's won: here breathless lies 
the king. 16 

Hot. Where? 

Doug. Here. 

Hot. This, Douglas! no; I know this face full 
well; 
A gallant knight he was, his name was Blunt; 20 

Semblably furnish'd like the king himself. 

Doug. A fool go with thy soul, whither it goes ! 
A borrow'd title hast thou bought too dear: 
Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king? 

Hot. The king hath many marching in his coats. 25 

Doug. Now, by my sword, I will kill all his coats; 
I'll murder all his wardrobe, piece by piece, 
Until I meet the king. 

Hot. Up, and away! 28 

Our soldiers stand full fairly for the day. Exeunt. 

21 Semblably furnish'd: dressed to resemble 



104 The First Part of 

Alarum, and enter Falstaff, solus. 

Fal. Though I could 'scape shot-free at 
London, I fear the shot here; here's no scoring 
but upon the pate. Soft! who art thou? Sir 
Walter Blunt: there's honour for you! here's 
no vanity! I am as hot as molten lead, and as 
heavy too: God keep lead out of me! I need 
no more weight than mine own bowels. I have 
led my ragamuffins where they are peppered: 
there's not three of my hundred and fifty left 
alive, and they are for the town's end, to beg 
during life. But who comes here? 40 

Enter the Prince. 

Prince. What ! stand'st thou idle here ? lend me thy 

sword: 
Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff 
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies, 
Whose deaths are unreveng'd: prithee, lend me thy 

sword. 44 

Fal. O Hal ! I prithee, give me leave to 
breathe awhile. Turk Gregory never did such 
deeds in arms as I have done this day. I have 
paid Percy, I have made him sure. 48 

Prince. He is indeed; and living to kill thee. 
I prithee, lend me thy sword. 

Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, 
thou gett'st not my sword; but take my pistol, 
if thou wilt. 53 

Prince. Give it me. What ! is it in the case ? 

Fal. Ay, Hal; 'tis hot, 'tis hot: there's that 
will sack a city. 

30 shot-free: without having to pay 46 Turk Gregory; cf. n. 



King Henry the Fourth, V. iv ios 

The Prince draws it out, and 
finds it to be a bottle of sack. 
Prince. What! is 't a time to jest and dally now? 

He throws the bottle at him. Exit. 
Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him. 
If he do come in my way, so: if he do not, if I 
come in his, willingly, let him make a carbonado 
of me. I like not such grinning honour as Sir 
Walter hath: give me life; which if I can save, 
so; if not, honour comes unlooked for, and 
there's an end. Exit. 

Scene [Four 
The battle field] 

Alarums. Excursions. Enter the King, the Prince, 
Lord John of Lancaster, and Earl of Westmore- 
land. 

King. I prithee, 
Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much. 
Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him. 

Lane. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. 4 

Prince. I beseech your majesty, make up, 
Lest your retirement do amaze your friends. 

King. I will do so. 
My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent. 8 

West. Come, my lord, I'll lead you to your tent. 

Prince. Lead me, my lord? I do not need your 
help: 
And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive 
The Prince of Wales from such a field as this, 12 

58 pierce; cf. n. 60 carbonado: a piece of meat slashed for broiling 

5 make up: go forward 6 amaze: confound, alarm 



106 The First Part of 

Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on, 
And rebels' arms triumph in massacres ! 

Lane. We breathe too long: come, cousin West- 
moreland, 
Our duty this way lies: for God's sake, come. 16 

[Exeunt Lord John of Lancaster 
and Earl of Westmoreland.] 

Prince. By God, thou hast deceiv'd me, Lancaster; 
I did not think thee lord of such a spirit: 
Before, I lov'd thee as a brother, John; 
But now, I do respect thee as my soul. 20 

King. I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point 
With lustier maintenance than I did look for 
Of such an ungrown warrior. 

Prince. O ! this boy 

Lends mettle to us all. Exit. 

Enter Douglas. 

Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's 
heads : 25 

I am the Douglas, fatal to all those 
That wear those colours on them: what art thou, 
That counterfeit'st the person of a king? 28 

King. The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at 
heart 
So many of his shadows thou hast met 
And not the very king. I have two boys 
Seek Percy and thyself about the field: 32 

But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily, 
I will assay thee; so defend thyself. 

Doug. I fear thou art another counterfeit; 
And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king: 

22 lustier maintenance: more vigorous bearing 

25 Hydra: a fabled monster, whose heads grew again as they were 
cut off 



King Henry the Fourth, V. iv 107 

But mine I am sure thou art, whoe'er thou be, 
And thus I win thee. 

They fight. The King being 
in danger, enter Prince. 
Prince. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art 
like 
Never to hold it up again ! the spirits 40 

Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms: 
It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee, 
Who never promiseth but he means to pay. 

They fight: Douglas flieth. 
Cheerly, my lord: how fares your Grace? 44 

Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent, 
And so hath Clifton: I'll to Clifton straight. 

King. Stay, and breathe awhile. 
Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion, 48 

And show'd thou mak'st some tender of my life, 
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me. 

Prince. O God! they did me too much injury 
That ever said I hearken'd for your death. 52 

If it were so, I might have let alone 
The insulting hand of Douglas over you; 
Which would have been as speedy in your end 
As all the poisonous potions in the world, 56 

And sav'd the treacherous labour of your son. 

King. Make up to Clifton: I'll to Sir Nicholas 
Gawsey. Exit. 

Enter Hotspur. 

Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. 
Prince. Thou speak'st as if I would deny my 
name. 60 

Hot. My name is Harry Percy. 

49 mak'st some tender: hast some regard for 
52 hearken'd for: watched for, desired 



108 The First Part of 

Prince. Why, then, I see 

A very valiant rebel of that name. 
I am the Prince of Wales ; and think not, Percy, 
To share with me in glory any more: 64 

Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere; 
Nor can one England brook a double reign, 
Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales. 

Hot. Nor shall it, Harry ; for the hour is come 68 
To end the one of us ; and would to God 
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine ! 

Prince. I'll make it greater ere I part from thee; 
And all the budding honours on thy crest 72 

I'll crop, to make a garland for my head. 
Hot. I can no longer brook thy vanities. 

They fight. Enter Falstaff. 
Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal! Nay, you 
shall find no boy's play here, I can tell you. 76 

Enter Douglas. He fights with Falstaff, who 
falls down as if he were dead. [Exit 
Douglas]. The Prince killeth Percy. 
Hot. O, Harry! thou hast robb'd me of my youth. 
I better brook the loss of brittle life 
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me; 
They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword nry 
flesh : 80 

But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool; 
And time, that takes survey of all the world, 
Must have a stop. O ! I could prophesy, 
But that the earthy and cold hand of death 84 

Lies on my tongue. No, Percy, thou art dust, 
And food for — [Dies.] 

Prince. For worms, brave Percy. Fare thee well, 
great heart ! 

65 Cf. n. 81-83 Cf. n. 



King Henry the Fourth, V. iv 10d 

Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk! 

When that this body did contain a spirit, 89 

A kingdom for it was too small a bound; 

But now, two paces of the vilest earth 

Is room enough : this earth, that bears thee dead, 92 

Bears not alive so stout a gentleman. 

If thou wert sensible of courtesy, 

I should not make so dear a show of zeal: 

But let my favours hide thy mangled face, 96 

And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself 

For doing these fair rites of tenderness. 

Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven ! 

Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave, 100 

But not remember'd in thy epitaph ! 

He spieth Falstaff on the ground. 
What ! old acquaintance ! could not all this flesh 
Keep in a little life ? Poor Jack, farewell ! 
I could have better spar'd a better man. 104 

O ! I should have a heavy miss of thee 
If I were much in love with vanity. 
Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day, 
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray. 108 

Embowell'd will I see thee by and by: 
Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. Exit. 

Falstaff riseth up. 

Fal. Embowelled! if thou embowel me to- 
day, I'll give you leave to powder me and 
eat me too, to-morrow. 'Sblood! 'twas time to 
counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid 
me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie, I am no 

93 stout: valiant 95_ dear: affectionate 

96 favours: a knot of ribbons worn by a knight, the gift of his lady 
109 Embowell'd: disembowelled for embalming 

112 powder: salt 114 termagant: violent; cf. n. 

115 scot and lot: a tax paid according to one's ability and resources 



no The First Part of 

counterfeit: to die, is to be a counterfeit; for he 
is but the counterfeit of a man, who hath not 
the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying, when 
a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but 
the true and perfect image of life indeed. The 
better part of valour is discretion; in the which 
better part, I have saved my life. 'Zounds ! I 
am afraid of this gunpowder Percy though he 
be dead: how. if he should counterfeit too and 
rise? By my faith I am afraid he would prove 
the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him 
sure; yea, and I'll swear I killed him. Why may 
not he rise as well as I ? Nothing confutes me 
but eyes, and nobody sees me: therefore, sirrah, 
with a new wound in your thigh come you along 
with me. 

He takes up Hotspur on his back. 
Enter Prince and John of Lancaster. 

Prince. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou 
flesh'd 132 

Thy maiden sword. 

Lane. But, soft! whom have we here? 

Did you not tell me this fat man was dead ? 
Prince. I did; I saw him dead, 

Breathless and bleeding on the ground. 136 

Art thou alive? or is it fantasy 

That plays upon our eyesight? I prithee, speak; 

We will not trust our eyes without our ears: 

Thou art not what thou seem'st. 140 

Fal. No, that's certain; I am not a double 

man: but if I be not Jack Falstaff, then am I a 

Jack. There is Percy: if your father will do 

me any honour, so ; if not, let him kill the 



King Henry the Fourth, V.iv m 

next Percy himself. I look to be either earl or 
duke, I can assure you. 

Prince. Why, Percy I killed myself, and saw thee 
dead. 147 

Fal. Didst thou ? Lord, Lord ! how this world 
is given to lying. I grant you I was down and 
out of breath, and so was he; but we rose both 
at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrews- 
bury clock. If I may be believed, so; if not, let 
them that should reward valour bear the sin 
upon their own heads. I'll take it upon my 
death, I gave him this wound in the thigh: if 
the man were alive and would deny it, 'zounds, 
I would make him eat a piece of my sword. 157 

Lane. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard. 
Prince. This is the strangest fellow, brother John. 
Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back: 
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace, 161 

I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have. 

A retreat is sounded. 
The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours. 
Come, brother, let us to the highest of the field, 
To see what friends are living, who are dead. 165 

Exeunt. 

Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He 

that rewards me, God reward him! If I do grow 

great, I'll grow less; for I'll purge, and leave 

sack, and live cleanly, as a nobleman should do. 

Exit. 



112 The First Part of 

Scene [Five 

The battle field] 

Enter the King, Prince of Wales, Lord John of 
Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland, with Worces- 
ter and Vernon, prisoners. 

King. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke. 
Ill-spirited Worcester! did we not send grace, 
Pardon, and terms of love to all of you? 
And wouldst thou turn our offers contrary? 4 

Misuse the tenour of thy kinsman's trust? 
Three knights upon our party slain to-day, 
A noble earl and many a creature else 
Had been alive this hour, 8 

If like a Christian, thou hadst truly borne 
Betwixt our armies true intelligence. 

Wor. What I have done my safety urg'd me to; 
And I embrace this fortune patiently, 12 

Since not to be avoided it falls on me. 

King. Bear Worcester to the death and Vernon 
too: 
Other offenders we will pause upon. 

Exit Worcester and Vernon. 
How goes the field? 16 

Prince. The noble Scot, Lord Douglas, when he 
saw 
The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him, 
The noble Percy slain, and all his men 
Upon the foot of fear, fled with the rest ; 20 

And falling from a hill he was so bruis'd 
That the pursuers took him. At my tent 

20 Upon the foot of fear: flying in fear 



King Henry the Fourth, V.v 11S 

The Douglas is, and I beseech your Grace 
I may dispose of him. 

King. With all my heart. 24 

Prince. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you 
This honourable bounty shall belong. 
Go to the Douglas, and deliver him 
Up to his pleasure, ransomless, and free: 28 

His valour shown upon our crests to-day 
Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds, 
Even in the bosom of our adversaries. 

Lane. I thank your Grace for this high cour- 
tesy, 32 
Which I shall give away immediately. 

King. Then this remains, that we divide our power. 
You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland 
Towards York shall bend you, with your dearest 
speed, 36 

To meet Northumberland and the prelate Scroop, 
Who, as we hear, are busily in arms: 
Myself and you, son Harry, will towards Wales, 
To fight with Glendower and the Earl of March. 
Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway, 41 

Meeting the check of such another day: 
And since this business so fair is done, 
Let us not leave till all our own be won. Exeunt. 

36 dearest: best 



NOTES 

I. i. 5. entrance of this soil. The earth is personi- 
fied, and the dry surface is called her mouth. 

I. i. 28. Cf. the last lines of Shakespeare's Richard 
II, King Henry's speech when news is brought him 
that, at his suggestion, King Richard, his predecessor 
M'hose throne he has usurped, has been murdered: 

Lords, I protest, my soul is full of woe 

That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow: 

Come, mourn with me for that I do lament 

And put on sullen black incontinent: 

I'll make a journey to the Holy Land 

To wash this blood from off my guilty hand. 

During the year which has intervened, civil wars have 
prevented the fulfilment of this vow. 

I. i. 38. Mortimer, Earl of March, rightful heir 
to the throne of England at the time of King 
Richard's death (see genealogical table in note on 
I. iii. 145-146), now in command of King Henry's 
forces on the western front. 

I. i. 52. Holy-rood day. Holy Cross Day, Sep- 
tember 14. 

I. i. 53. Young Harry Percy. The youngest mem- 
ber of the great Percy family, now in command of 
the king's forces on the northern front. The Percies 
(see Dramatis Personae) had been King Henry's chief 
supporters in his usurpation of the throne. 

I. i. 71. Mordake, the Earl of Fife, was not son 
to beaten Douglas, but to the Duke of Albany, regent 
of Scotland. Shakespeare's error is due to a mistake 
in punctuation in Holinshed's list of Hotspur's pris- 
oners, which reads: 'Mordacke earle of Fife, son to 



King Henry the Fourth 1 i 5 

the governour Archembald earle Dowglas, etc.' A 
comma was omitted after 'governour/ and Shakes- 
peare understood that 'Archembald' was 'governour.' 

I. i. 91-95. By the law of arms, the King might 
claim only such prisoners as were of royal blood, and 
the historical Hotspur was therefore entirely within 
his rights in refusing to send to the king any pris- 
oners except Mordake. But Shakespeare did not 
know that Mordake was of royal blood (see preced- 
ing note) and he was apparently ignorant of the law 
of arms which gave Hotspur the right to keep the 
rest of the prisoners. No attempt is made to explain 
why Shakespeare's Hotspur sent Mordake to the 
king — Shakespeare merely follows the facts as set 
down in Holinshed. The indignation of King Henry 
and Westmoreland, in this scene, at 'young Percy's 
pride'; Hotspur's conciliatory tone and his expla- 
nations when he appears at court (I. iii.) ; and the 
fact that neither Hotspur nor his uncle, Worcester, 
the experienced diplomat, ever suggests that Hotspur 
has a legal right to his prisoners; all these things 
indicate that Shakespeare's Hotspur is not within his 
rights in keeping the prisoners. His refusal was, at 
first, a thoughtless and impetuous act; and the 
refusal once made, the shrewd Worcester saw reasons 
for influencing his nephew to stand by this first hasty 
reply to the king's demand. 

I. i. 97. Malevolent to you in all aspects. An 
astrological allusion, referring to the supposed good 
and evil influences of the planets. The king uses an 
astrological figure in his address to Worcester in 
V. i. 17-21. 

I. i. 107. uttered is used here in its peculiar 
Elizabethan sense, namely, to put into circulation or 
to offer to the public. The substance of the king's 
speech is: 'Dismiss the lords until Wednesday next, 
but you yourself return to me at once, for more is 



116 The First Part of 

to be said and done, than I can say or do in public 
in my present angry condition.' 

I. ii. 16. seven stars. The Pleiades; also a com- 
mon tavern-sign. 

I. ii. 16. wandering knight. El Donzel del Febo, 
Knight of the Sun (or Phoebus), hero of a popular 
Spanish romance. This quotation is perhaps from 
some contemporary ballad founded on the romance. 

I. ii. 19-33. Falstaff plays on the word Grace, 
using it first as a title, then in reference to the 
spiritual state of grace, and finally as 'grace before 
meat.' From this simple pun he proceeds to a more 
complicated play on words. There is the obvious 
play on night and knight in 1. 27, followed in 1. 28 
by the play on the words body, beauty, and booty, in 
each of which the vowel sound, in Shakespeare's day, 
approximated the round o sound, as in note. Finally 
there is the play on the phrase under whose counte- 
nance. 

I. ii. 49. Hal's quibble on the word durance would 
have greater significance if a buff jerkin were the 
costume of a prisoner instead of the ordinary dress of 
a sheriff's officer. The ideas of a sheriff and 'durance 
vile' are closely enough associated, however, to give 
some point to the jest. 

I. ii. 87. Eating the flesh of a hare was supposed 
to generate melancholy. 

I. ii. 88. Moor-ditch was a stagnant ditch and 
morass outside the walls of London. 

I. ii. 101. damnable iteration. A damnable trick 
of quoting and misapplying. 

I. ii. 118. Gadshill. The name of one of the rob- 
bers and of the place of the robbery. 

I. ii. 144. Eastcheap. The district in London 
where the Boar's Head Tavern, the rendezvous of 
Hal and Falstaff, was situated. 



King Henry the Fourth 1 i 7 

I. ii. 177. All-hallown summer. The warm 
weather which comes at about the time of All Saints' 
Day, November first; called in America Indian 
Summer. The reference is to Falstaff's youthful 
spirit in his old age. 

I. ii. 199. Sirrah. The ordinary form of address 
to children and servants ; here, a sign of Poins's undue 
familiarity with the Prince. 

I. ii. 206. the third, i.e., Falstaff. Shakespeare's 
inaccuracy in unimportant details is well illustrated 
here. He has just mentioned four robbers (11. 180- 
181), and now implies, at least, that there are to be 
but three. The phrase 'those men that we have 
already waylaid' (11. 181-182) is also inaccurate and 
misleading. Falstaff and his three followers both 
waylay and rob the men, after Hal and Poins have 
withdrawn. But Shakespeare wrote primarily for the 
stage, and not for the closet, and inaccuracies of this 
sort are not apparent on the stage. 

I. iii. 36. milliner. In Shakespeare's time, milli- 
ners, i.e., dealers in women's clothes from Milan, 
were, for the most part, men. 

I. iii. 56. God save the mark. A deprecatory 
expression, of obscure origin, used when reference is 
made to an unpleasant subject. 

I. iii. 137. Bolingbroke. King Henry is referred 
to by many names during the course of the play. 
Before his accession he was commonly known as 
Henry of Bolingbroke, from the fact that he was 
born in Bolingbroke castle in Lincolnshire. He also 
bore the titles Earl of Derby, Duke of Hereford, 
and, after his father's death, Duke of Lancaster. 

I. iii. 145-146. The following genealogical table 
will help to make clear this question of the succession 
to the English throne : 



118 



The First Part of 



Edward III (1327-1377) 



Edward, Prince 

of Wales ('the 

Black Prince') 

d. 1376 

Richard II 
(1377-1399) 



Lionel, Duke 
of Clarence 



John of Gaunt, 
Duke of 
Lancaster 



Philippa, m. Edmund 

Mortimer, Earl of 

March 



Henry IV 

(1399-1414) 



Roger M., Earl I Edmund M. Elizabeth M. 
of March I m. Harry Percy 



Edmund Mortimer, Earl 
of March, d. 1424 

Shakespeare follows the chroniclers in confusing ( 
Edmund Mortimer, the son of Philippa, withi 
Edmund Mortimer, the son of Roger. It was Roger 
Mortimer who was King Richard's heir, and was so 
proclaimed in the October Parliament of 1385. At 
his death in 1398, one year before King Richard's,, 
his seven-year-old son succeeded to his claim. But 
it was the elder Edmund, brother to Roger, who 
fought Glendower and married his daughter. Plot- 
spur's brother-in-law, therefore, was not heir to the 
throne. The heir, as the table shows, was the nephew 
of Lady Percy, and in III. i. 195 Mortimer refers to 
Lady Percy as 'my aunt Percy.' Here (1. 156), and 
in 1. 80, Mortimer is represented as Hotspur's 
brother-in-law. 

I. iii. 245. York. Edmund of Langley, Duke of 
York, younger brother to John of Gaunt, uncle to 



King Henry the Fourth H9 

King Richard and King Henry. Richard had ap- 
pointed York regent of England during the king's 
absence in Ireland. Richard had previously exiled 
Henry, and the latter chose this period of the king's 
absence from his realm to return and claim his 
father's estates, which had been unjustly confiscated 
by Richard to pay for this same Irish expedition. 
Henry was met at Ravenspurgh, on the coast of 
Yorkshire, by Northumberland; at Doncaster, in 
southern Yorkshire, by Worcester; and finally at 
Berkeley Castle, in Gloucestershire, by Hotspur. 
The interview between Hotspur and Henry, from 
which Hotspur quotes in his next speech, is presented 
in Shakespeare's Richard II, II. iii. 

I. iii. 271. the Lord Scroop. One of the adher- 
ents of King Richard, executed by order of Henry; 
see Richard II, III. ii. 

II. i. 2. Charles' Wain. Probably a corruption of 
'churl's wain' or 'countryman's wagon,' the name 
given to the constellation which is now known as the 
Great Bear. 

II. i. 10. next, the old superlative of nigh, of which 
near was the comparative. Cf. III. i. 263. 

II. i. 17. There is an old superstition, referred to 
in Pliny's Natural History, ix. 47, that fishes are 
infested with fleas. Cf. 1. 23. 

II. i. 28. Charing-cross, in Shakespeare's time a 
village on the road from London to Westminster; 
now in the heart of Greater London. 

II. i. 67. Saint Nicholas, a popular saint in the 
Roman and Russian Churches, now familiarly known 
as Santa Claus, was the patron saint of scholars, 
children, parish clerks, travellers, sailors, and pawn- 
brokers. His aid was invoked by travellers to protect 
them from perils of the road, especially from robbers. 

II. i. 81 ff. foot-land-rakers, foot-pads; long-staff 



120 The First Part of 

sixpenny strikers, fellows who would knock a man 
down to get sixpence from him; mustachio-purple- 
hued malt worms, fellows whose moustaches are so 
constantly immersed in ale that they have become 
purple; tranquillity, people who live at ease; great 
oneyers, great ones (with a play on the words one 
and own which were pronounced alike) ; such as can 
hold in, such as can keep their own counsel (an 
accomplishment which Gadshill seems to find it 
difficult to imitate). 

II. i. 94. Greasing of boots to make them water- 
proof was called 'liquoring' them; the play on the 
word here is obvious. 

II. i. 96. receipt of fern-seed. According to popu- 
lar superstition, fern-seed was visible only on Saint 
John's Eve (June 23), and those who gathered it 
then, according to a certain rite, were themselves 
rendered invisible. 

II. ii. 2. frets like a gummed velvet. Velvet 
stiffened with gum very soon chafed. 

II. iii. 1. The writer of this letter is not specified. 

II. iii. 37. I could divide myself into two parts 
and then fight with myself. 

II. iii. 41. Kate. The actual Hotspur's wife's 
name was Elizabeth, not Kate; cf. genealogical table 
on page 118. Shakespeare seems to have had a 
peculiar fondness for the name Kate. 

II. iii. 50-51. Why have you allowed musing and 
melancholy, which have made you 'thick-eyed,' i.e., 
blind to all outward things, to make you forget your 
attention to me, which is my 'treasure'? 

II. iii. 58. The basilisk cannon was named from 
the fabulous monster whose look was reputed to kill. 
The culverin is also named from a serpent. 

II. iii. 98. crowns. Used quibblingly: broken 



King Henry the Fourth 121 

heads, or damaged coin, still in circulation, 'passing 
current.' 

II. iv. 21. tinker. Tinkers were famous for their 
capacity for strong drink and for their picturesque 
vocabulary. 

II. iv. 59. Michaelmas. The feast of St. Michael, 
September 29; one of the four quarter days of the 
English business year. 

II. iv. 83 ff. Hal here talks nonsense, with the 
express purpose of confusing Francis still more. 

II. iv. 125. brawn. The fleshy part of the body, 
especially the calf of the leg or the buttocks. Falstaff 
is again referred to as a 'brawn' in Henry IV, Pt. II. 
I. i. 19: 'Harry Monmouth's brawn, the hulk Sir 
John.' 

II. iv. 135. Titan. The sun. Mispunctuation has 
resulted in making this speech of Prince Hal's 
obscure in most modern editions. The phrase 
'pitiful-hearted Titan' is obviously parenthetical, as 
Warburton first suggested, and the clause beginning 
'that melted' refers to 'butter.' 

II. iv. 149. weaver. Elizabethan weavers were, 
for the most part, 'psalm-singing Puritans,' who had 
fled to England from the religious persecutions in 
the Low Countries. 

II. iv. 242. points. Falstaff refers to the points 
of swords. Poins, in his reply, quibblingly interprets 
points in another sense, namely, garters. 

II. iv. 250. Kendal-green. A dark green woolen 
cloth made at Kendal in Westmoreland; the tradi- 
tional costume of Robin Hood. 

II. iv. 266. strappado. A military punishment 
which consisted of fastening a rope under the arms 
of the offender, drawing him up by a pulley to the 
top of a high beam, and then suddenly letting him 
down with a jerk. 



122 The First Part of 

II. iv. 268. reasons. A play on the words reasons 
and raisins, which were pronounced alike. 

II. iv. 325. royal. A royal was 10s.; a noble 
6s. 8d. 

II. iv. 355-362. Bardolph becomes angry and 
adopts a threatening attitude. 'My red face/ he 
implies, 'portends choler (anger).' Hal finds it 
merely a sign of a hot liver (caused by drinking) and 
an empty purse (also caused by drink). When Bar- 
dolph insists that it is choler, Hal quibblingly inter- 
prets choler as collar, and suggests that if his face 
were rightly taken, it would be taken by a halter. 

II. iv. 430. King Cambyses. A ranting bombastic 
tragedy by Thomas Preston (1570). Line 436 shows 
that Falstaff knew more than the name of the play, 
one line of which reads: '(At this tale tolde let the 
Queene weep.) 

Queene: These wordes to hear makes stilling teares 
issue from christal eyes.' 

II. iv. 443. Falstaff may be referring to the 
Hostess as a pint-pot always well filled with tickle- 
brain, or he may be using tickle-brain not in its 
technical sense, but merely as an appropriate word 
for describing the nighty character of the Hostess. 

II. iv. 444 ff . Falstaff is here burlesquing the 
somewhat pompous and artificial style of King Henry, 
and Shakespeare is, at the same time, burlesquing the 
fashionable and artificial prose style of his own con- 
temporaries, known as Euphuism. This style was 
exemplified in John Lyly's Euphues (1578-1580), 
and its chief characteristics are: (1) The constant 
use of antithesis, (2) The use of alliteration to 
emphasize the antithetic clauses, (3) The frequent 
use of a long string of similes all relating to the 
same subject, often taken from the fabulous qualities 
ascribed to plants, animals, and minerals, (4) The 
constant use of rhetorical questions, (5) Frequent 



King Henry the Fourth 123 

quotation of proverbs. Falstaff's first figure is taken 
directly from Euphues (ed. Bond, vol. I, p. 196): 
'Though the Camomill the more it is trodden and 
pressed downe, the more it spreadeth, yet the Violet 
the oftner it is handeled and touched, the sooner it 
withereth and decayeth.' The following passages 
are good examples of Euphuism (Bond, I. 222): 
'Though thou haue eaten the seedes of Rockatte 
which breede incontinencie, yet haue I chewed the 
leafe Cresse which mainteineth modestie. Though 
thou beare in thy bosome the hearbe Araxa most 
noisome to virginitie, yet haue I the stone that 
groweth in the mounte Tmolus, the vpholder of 
chastitie.' 'Well doth he know that the glass once 
erased will with the least clappe be cracked . . . 
But can Euphues conuince me of fleetinge, seeing for 
his sake I breake my fidelitie? Can he condemne 
me of disloyaltie, when he is the only cause of my 
dislyking? May he condemn me of trecherye, who 
hath this testimony as tryall of my good will? Doth 
he not remember that . . . though the Spyder poyson 
the Five, she cannot infect the Bee? That though 
I have bene light to Philautus, yet I may be louely 
to Euphues?' (Bond, I. 205-206.) 

II. iv. 486-487. Falstaff is comparing himself with 
the thinnest things he can think of, a young sucking 
rabbit, or a hare hung up in a poulterer's shop. 

II. iv. 495. I'll tickle ye, etc. This is obviously 
an aside to Hal, and not part of Falstaff's speech in 
his role of Prince. As he begins his performance, he 
whispers to Hal, 'My acting of the part of a young 
prince will tickle you, i' faith.' 

II. iv. 504. Manningtree ox. Manningtree is a 
town in Essex, famous for its fairs at which oxen 
were roasted whole. 

II. iv. 527. Pharaoh's lean hine. Cf. Genesis 41. 
19. 



124 The First Part of 

II. iv. 547-549. There are two possible interpre- 
tations of this speech. The first (Malone's) is that 
Falstaff is referring here to the real danger which 
now confronts them; the second (Wright's) is that 
Falstaff, all absorbed in 'playing out the play,' waves 
the Hostess aside and continues his defence of him- 
self. If we accept the first interpretation, we may 
paraphrase Falstaff's speech as follows: 'Dost thou 
hear that, Hal? Don't yield to one of your mad 
impulses now, and make light of a serious matter.' 
Hal's reply would tend to support this interpretation. 

II. iv. 557-558. Falstaff hides behind the curtain 
which divided the outer from the inner stage in the 
Elizabethan theatre; the others 'walk above,' i.e., on 
the balcony above the inner stage. 

III. i. 100. the best of all my land. All Lincoln- 
shire and part of Nottinghamshire. See map. 

III. i. 148-152. The division of the kingdom was 
made by the conspirators, according to Holinshed, 
'through a foolish credit given to a vain prophecy' 
that Henry was a moldwarp (a mole) whose king- 
dom should be divided among a wolf, a dragon, and 
a lion. This cryptic prophecy was attributed to 
Merlin, and is referred to in The Mirror for Magis- 
trates (1559): 

And for to set us hereon more agog, 

A prophet came (a vengeaunce take them all) 

Affirming Henry to be Gog-magog, 

Whom Merlin doth a mouldwarp ever call, 

Accursed of God, that must be brought in thrall 

By a wulf, a dragon, and a lyon strong, 

Which shuld devide his kingdome them amonge. 

Hotspur evidently has not shared in the 'foolish 
credit' given to the 'vain prophecy' and his only 
memory of the discussion is that Glendower talked 
a lot of Celtic nonsense. 



King Henry the Fourth 125 

III. i. 200-203. Mortimer seems to be trying to say 
that though he does not understand his wife's speech, 
he understands her looks, and that he is 'too per- 
fect' in the language of tears (i.e., 'the pretty 
Welsh' which she pours down from her swollen 
eyes). So near to tears is the bridegroom himself 
that shame alone prevents his answering his wife's 
tears with tears. 

III. i. 256. Finsbury. Archery grounds just out- 
side of London, a favorite resort of respectable 
middle-class citizens. 

III. i. 260. velvet-guards. Velvet trimmings; 
hence women that wear such finery, notably wives of 
aldermen. 

III. i. 263. tailor. Tailors, like weavers (cf. II. 
iv. 149 n.), were noted for singing at their work. 

III. ii. 50. I assumed, or took upon myself, a 
heavenly graciousness of bearing. 

III. ii. 62. carded. To card was to mix different 
kinds of drink; so King Richard mixed his high state 
and dignity with baseness. 

III. ii. 99. Hal's claim to the crown is shadowy 
compared with Hotspur's, for Hal's claim is that of 
inheritance from a usurper who has been rewarded 
with the crown for his services to the state; whereas 
Hotspur's claim is that of efficient public service, 
performed by himself. 

III. iii. 10. brewer's horse. The point of this 
comparison lies probably in the fact that a brewer's 
horse carries good liquor on his back, instead of in 
his belly. 

III. iii. 35. It was the fashion to wear, as a 
memento mor'x, reminder of death, a ring or pin on 
the stone of which was engraved a skull and cross- 
bones. 

III. iii. 36. See St. Luke's Gospel, 16. 19-31. 



126 The First Part of 

III. iii. 40. Cf. Psalm 104. 4: Who maketh his 
angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire. 

III. iii. 60. Partlet. The name of the hen in the 
famous story of the Cock and the Fox; cf. Chaucer's 
Nonne Preestes Tale. The hen-like characteristics 
of the hostess are apparent in the conversation imme- 
diately following. 

III. iii. 128-129. Maid Marian. The mistress of 
Robin Hood, often impersonated by a man in the 
morris-dances, in which she was traditionally a rather 
disreputable person. 'As regards womanliness/ says 
Falstaff to the hostess, 'in comparison with you, Maid 
Marian is as respectable a person as the wife of the 
deputy-alderman of this ward.' 

III. iii. 181. injuries. 'As the pocketing of in- 
juries was a common phrase, I suppose the Prince 
calls the contents of Falstaff's pockets injuries.' 
(Steevens.) Cf. 182-183. 

III. iii. 205. unwashed hands. Without stopping 
to wash your hands, i.e., at once ; or, possibly, without 
any over-fastidious scruples. 

III. iii. 228. drum. Used here in the sense of 
rallying-point or recruiting station. 

IV. i. 4-5. Another figurative expression referring 
to coinage; cf. II. iii. 97-99. 'Your fame would 
circulate more widely than that of any soldier of this 
season's coinage.' 

IV. i. 53. 'Whereas now we have the pleasant 
prospect of future possession.' 

IV. i. 56. 'The comfort of having something to 
fall back upon.' 

IV. i. 98-99. 'All plumed like ostriches that flap 
their wings in the wind like eagles that have lately 
bathed.' The obscurity of this passage is caused by 
the double comparison, of men with ostriches, and 
ostriches with eagles. Bate means literally to beat 



King Henry the Fourth 127 

the wings impatiently and flutter away from a perch. 
Three ostrich plumes have always been the cognizance 
of the Prince of Wales. 

IV. i. 100. images. The reference is probably to 
the festival robes which adorn the images of the 
saints on holy days. 

IV. i. 111-112. 'Your praise of him causes me 
greater pain than the ague in the Spring.' 

IV. i. 114. maid. Bellona, goddess of war. 

IV. ii. 3. Sutton-Co'fiU. Sutton-Coldfield, a town 
twenty-four miles northwest of Coventry. 

IV. ii. 6. 'makes an angel, or ten shillings, that 
I have spent.' 

IV. ii. 18-19. 'Whose banns had been twice pub- 
lished/ i.e., they were to be married immediately. 

IV. ii. 37. St. Luke's Gospel, 15. 15-16. 

V. i. 13. old limbs. The historical King Henry 
was thirty-seven years old at the time of the battle 
of Shrewsbury; the historical Hotspur was forty; 
and the historical Prince Hal seventeen. The King 
of Shakespeare's play is, however, an elderly man, 
and Hotspur and Hal are both young. I. i. 87-89 
shows that Shakespeare regarded his two youthful 
heroes as of the same age; and III. ii. 112-113 would 
indicate that they were very young. 

V. i. 60-61. The cuckoo frequently lays her eggs 
in the hedge-sparrow's nest; and the hedge-sparrow 
brings up the young cuckoos, until they have 'grown 
to such a bulk' that they destroy their foster-parents. 
Cf. Lear, I. iv. 235: 

The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long 
That it had it head bit off by it young. 

V. i. 127-128. There is probably a pun here on 
the words death and debt which were pronounced 
alike. 



128 The First Part of 

V. iii. 46. Turk Gregory. Editors all agree that 
Falstaff here refers to Pope Gregory VII, Hilde- 
brand, who, as a friar, was famous for military ex- 
ploits. Attempts to explain the appellation Turk 
are not very satisfactory. Falstaff perhaps has in 
mind the phrase 'to fight like a Turk.' 

V. iii. 58. Another pun. The -ie- of pierce was 
pronounced like the -e- of Percy. 

V. iv. 65. A reference to Ptolemaic astronomy, 
according to which each planet was fixed in a crystal 
sphere with which it revolved. 

V. iv. 81-83. 'The glory of the Prince wounds 
his thoughts; but thought, being dependent on life, 
must cease with it, and will soon be at an end. Life, 
on which thought depends, is itself of no great value, 
being the fool and sport of time; of time, which, with 
all its dominion over sublunary things, must itself at 
last be stopped.' (Johnson.) 

V. iv. 114. termagant. Name of one of the fabled 
idols worshipped by Mohammedans, according to the 
Mediaeval Romance. 



APPENDIX A 
VARIANTS 

The text used in this edition is that of Craig's 
Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford University Press), 
which follows, almost invariably, the First Quarto, 
the best early text of Henry IV, Part I. The stage- 
directions are not those of the Oxford Shakespeare, 
but are for the most part from either the First 
Quarto or the First Folio; stage-directions which are 
bracketed are modern. 

Occasionally the Oxford Shakespeare departs from 
the reading of the First Quarto, and substitutes an 
inferior reading from the First Folio. In such cases 
I have restored the Quarto readings, as noted below. 

I have taken the title of the play from the First 
Folio. The First Quarto title, which omits the 
phrase 'The first part,' is as follows: 

THE HISTORY OF | HENRIE THE 
FOURTH; | With the battell at Shrewsburie 
betweene the King and Lord | Henry Percy, surnamed 
Henrie Hotspur of the North | With the humorous 
conceits of Sir | Iohn Falstaffe. 

In the Dramatis Personam, the Oxford Shakespeare 
omits the name of Francis, although in all stage- 
directions and before speeches it uses the name 
Francis instead of the word 'Drawer' which is used 
in Quartos and Folios. 

The list of my departures from the Oxford text 
follows : 

Yale Oxford 

I. i. 28 now is twelve months Ql is a twelvemonth Fl 
I. i. 42 A hundred Ql And a hundred Fl 

I. i. 49 with other, did, Ql with other like Fl 



130 



The First Part of 



I. iii. 71 Whate'er Lord Ql 
I. iii. 83 that Ql 

I. iii. 124 you will Ql 

II. i. 38 and 44 lantern Ql, Fl 
II. ii. 57 Bardolph, what news? 

Ql Fl 
II. iv. 163 by the Lord, I'll stab 

thee Ql 
II. iv. 379 O, Glendower Ql, Fl 

II. iv. 499 an old fat man Ql 

III. i. 10 wisheth Ql, Fl 
III. iii. 18 not — above 
III. iii. 21 borrowed — three 
III. iii. 29 lantern Ql, Fl 

III. iii. 194 pacified still Ql, Fl 

III. iii. 219 Peto Ql, Fl 

IV. i. 98 with the wind Ql, Fl 

V. iv. 100 ignominy Ql 



Whatever Fl 
the Fl 
you'll Fl 
lanthorn 

Bard. What news? 

I'U stab thee Fl 

Owen Glendower 

a fat old man Fl 

wishes 

not above Ql, Fl 

borrowed three Ql, 

lanthorn 

pacified. Still ! 

Poins 

wing the wind 

ignomy Fl 



Fl 



APPENDIX B 
SOURCES 

The sources of the serious plot of both parts of 
Shakespeare's Henry IV are (1) the 1587 edition of 
The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland 
by Raphael Holinshed 'of Bromecote in the County 
of Warr(wick)'; and (2) either Samuel Daniel's 
poem, The Civill Wars of England (1595) or some 
lost poem, play, or chronicle followed by both Daniel 
and Shakespeare. 

The source of the comic plot is a crude and slight 
chronicle play called The Famous Victories of 
Henry V, first acted in 1588, licensed in 1594, and 
published in 1598. 

Selections from Holinshed's Account of the 
Battle of Shrewsbury 

The next daie in the morning earlie, being the even 
of Marie Magdalene (July 21. 1403), they set their 
battells in order on both sides, and now, whilest the 
warriors looked when the token of battell should be 
given, the abbat of Shrewesburie, and one of the 
clerks of the privie seale, were sent from the king 
vnto the Persies, to offer them pardon, if they would 
come to any reasonable agreement. By their per- 
suasions, the lord Henrie Persie began to give ear 
vnto the kings offers, & so sent with them his vncle 
the earle of Worcester, to declare vnto the king the 
causes of those troubles. . . . 

It was reported for a truth, that now when the king 
had condescended vnto all that was reasonable at his 
hands to be required, and seemed to humble himself 



132 The First Part of 

more than was meet for his estate, the earle of 
Worcester vpon his return to his nephue made 
relation cleane contrarie to that the king had said, 
in such sort that he set his nephues hart more in 
displeasure toward the king than ever it was before; 
driving him by that means to fight whether he would 
or not. . . . 

And forthwith the lord Persie, as a capteine of 
high courage, began to exhort the capteines and 
souldiers to prepare themselves to battell, sith the 
matter was grown to that point, that by no mcanes 
it could be avoided, "so that," said he, "this daie 
shall either bring vs all to advancement & honor, or 
else if it shall chance vs to be overcome, shall deliver 
us from the kings spitefull malice and cruell disdaine: 
for plaieng the men, as we ought to doo, better it is 
to die in battell for the commonwealths cause, than 
through cowardlike feare to prolong life, which after 
shall be taken from us by the sentence of the 
enimie. . . . 

Then suddenlie blew the trumpets, the kings part 
crieng, "St. George ! Upon them !" the adversaries 
cried "Esperance ! Persie !" and so the two armies 
furiouslie ioined. . . . 

The prince that daie holpe his father like a lustie 
yoong gentleman; for although he was hurt in the 
face with an arrow, so that diuerse noblemen, that 
were aboute him, would have conveyed him foorth 
from the field, yet he would not suffer them so to 
doo, least his departure from amongst his men might 
happilie have stricken some feare into their harts : 
and so without regard of his hurt, he continued with 
his men, and never ceassed either to fight where the 
battell was most hot, or to incourage his men where 
it seemed most need. 



King Henry the Fourth 133 

Selections from Daniel's Civill Wars, Book IV 

(The battle of Shrewsbury) 

No. 37 

And yet, undaunted Hotspur, seeing the King 
So neere arriv'd; leaving the work in hand, . . . 
Brings on his army, eger vnto fight; 
And plac't the same before the king in sight. 

No. 38 

"This day (saith he) my valiant trusty friends, 

"Whatever it shall give, shal glory give; 

"This day, with honor, frees our state, or ends 

"Our misery with fame, that still shal live: 

"And doo but thinke, how well the same he spends, 

"Who spends his blood, his Country to relieve. 

"What? Have we hands, and shall we servile bee? 

"Why were swordes made? but, to preserve men free. 

No. 45 

Forthwith, began these fury-moving sounds, 

The notes of wrath, the musicke brought from Hell, 

The ratling drums (which trumpets voyce confounds) 

The cryes, th' incouragements, the shouting shrill; 

That, all about, the beaten ayre rebounds 

Confused thundring-murmurs horrible. . . . 

No. 48 

There, lo that new-appearing glorious starre, 
Wonder of armes, the terror of the field, 
Young Henrie, labouring where the stoutest are, 
And even the stoutest forceth backe to yeeld. . . . 

No. 52 

And never worthy Prince a day did quit 
With greater hazard, and with more renowne 
Than thou didst, mighty *Henrie, in this fight; 
Which onely made thee owner of thine owne. . . . 

No. 53 

And deare it cost, and much good blood is shed 
To purchase thee, a saving victorie: 



*The King. 



134 The First Part of 

Great Stafford, thy high Constable, lyes dead, 

With Shorly, Clifton, Gawsell, Calverly, 

And many more; whose brave deaths witnessed 

Their noble valour and fidelitie: 

And many more had left their dearest bloud 

Behind, that day, had Hotspur longer stood. 

No. 54 

But he, as Dowglas, with a furie ledde, 
Rushing into the thickest woods of speares, 
And brakes of swordes, still laying at the Head 
(The life of th' army) whiles he nothing feares 
Or spares his owne, comes all invironed 
With multitude of power, that overbeares 
His manly worth: who yeeldes not in his fall; 
But fighting dyes, and dying kils withal. 



Selection from the Famous Victories of 
Henry V 

The following is the first conversation between 
Prince Hal and FalstafT (Sir John Oldcastle) : 

Enter Sir Iohn Old-Castle. 

Hen. 5. How now sir Iohn Old-Castle, 

What newes with you? 
Ioh. Old. I am glad to see your grace at libertie,* 

I was come, I, to visit you in prison. 
Hen. 5. To visit me? Didst thou not know that I 

am a Princes son. . . But I *ell you, sirs, 

when I am king we will have no such things. 

But, my lads, if the old king, my father, were 

dead, we should all be kings. 
Ioh. Old. Hee is a goode olde man, God take him to 

his mercy the sooner. 
Hen. 5. But, Ned, so soone as I am King, the first 

thing I will do, shal be to put my lord chief 



* The Prince had just been committed to the Fleet for 
striking the Lord Chief Justice. 



King Henry the Fourth 135 

Justice out of office. And thou shalt be my 
Lord chiefe Justice of England. 

Ned. Shall I be Lord chiefe Justice? 

By gogs wounds, ile be the bravest Lord 

chiefe Justice 
That ever was in England. 

Hen. 5. Thou shalt hang none but picke purses and 
horse stealers, and such base-minded vil- 
laines. But that fellow that will stand by 
the high way side couragiously with his sword 
and buckler and take a purse, that fellow 
give him commendations, beside that send 
him to me and I will give him an annual 
pension out of my Exchequer. 



APPENDIX C 
THE HISTORY OF THE PLAY 

1. Date of Composition 

King Henry IV, Part I, was apparently written in 
the year 1596-1597, when Shakespeare was in his 
thirty-third year. He had probably already produced 
nine successful plays, among them Romeo and Juliet 
and The Merchant of Venice. The year 1596 had 
witnessed the English expedition to Spain and the 
destruction of the city of Cadiz; the year 1597 saw 
the destruction of the second Spanish Armada. 
English patriotism never found nobler expression 
than in the historical plays of Shakespeare written 
during these years of national trial and endeavour. 

2. Early Editions 

The popularity of this play is attested by the large 
number of early editions, no less than six appearing 
before the publication of the first Folio in 1623. The 
first Quarto appeared in 1598, and was followed by 
others in 1599, 1604, 1608, 1613, and 1622. The 
first Quarto furnishes the best text. The text of the 
first Folio was apparently based upon the fifth 
Quarto. 

3. Sir John Oldcastle and Sir John Falstaff 

In Shakespeare's first version of the play he evi- 
dently retained the name Oldcastle for the fat knight 
who attended the Prince. Hal's pun, 'my old lad 
of the castle' (I. ii.) bears witness to this, as does 
the metrical imperfection in the line 



King Henry the Fourth 137 

Away good Ned, Falstaff sweats to death (II. ii.) 
which would be corrected by the substitution of the 
word Oldcastle for Falstaff. In the first Quarto of 
Henry IV, Part II, the prefix Old. is found instead 
of Fal. before Falstaff 's speech in I. ii. 137, and in the 
Epilogue to this play the author explicitly states that 
the Falstaff of the play is not the Oldcastle who 'died 
a martyr.' 

Oldcastle was a famous Lollard, and according to 
tradition many Elizabethan Protestants protested 
against Shakespeare's 'degradation' of an honorable 
name, and 'some of that family being then remain- 
ing, the Queen was pleased to command him to alter 
it.' It is at least a singular coincidence that Shake- 
speare substituted the name of a Lollard sympathizer, 
Sir John Fastolfe, in slightly disguised form. The 
Falstaff of the play bears no resemblance, save in 
name, to either Sir John Oldcastle or Sir John 
Fastolfe. 

4. Stage History 

Of the first performances and the first players of 
Henry IV no records are extant ; but the large number 
of contemporary references add their testimony to 
the fact of the play's popularity. Ben Jonson 
alludes to the fatness of Sir John Falstaff in Every 
Man out of his Humour, and in Beaumont and 
Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle, Ralph, the 
apprentice, when asked to 'speak a huffing part,' 
declaims Hotspur's speech on honor, with variations. 
Shakespeare's chief rivals, the Lord Admiral's play- 
ers, in 1599 paid him the compliment of producing a 
play of their own on The Life of Sir John Oldcastle; 
and even during the period of the Commonwealth, 
Puritan legislation failed to prevent the clandestine 
performance of a farcical abridgment of Shake- 
speare's play, known as The Bouncing Knight. 



138 The First Part of 

John Lowin (1576-1659) is the earliest actor whose 
name is associated with the play. James Wright in 
his Historia Histrionica (1699) says that 'before the 
wars' Lowin acted Falstaff 'with mighty applause.' 
Lowin seems to have joined Shakespeare's company 
in 1603, six or seven years after the probable date 
of the first performance of Henry IV. 

This play was one of the first to be revived pub- 
licly after the Restoration. Pepys first saw it in 
December, 1660, and was disappointed, — 'my expec- 
tation being too great, . . . and my having a book I 
believe did spoil it a little.' The next spring, how- 
ever, Pepys saw it again, and pronounced it 'a good 
play.' In November, 1667, and September, 1668, 
Pepys attended performances again, and 'contrary 
to expectation was pleased in nothing more than in 
Cartwright's speaking of Falstaff' s speech about 
"What is Honour?" ' 

During the seventies John Lacey succeeded Cart- 
wright in the role of Falstaff; and in 1682, the year 
after Lacey's death, at the time of the union of the 
King's and the Duke's players, the great Thomas 
Betterton appeared as Hotspur. Eighteen years 
later, at the age of sixty-five, Betterton appeared as 
Falstaff 'which drew all the town more than any new 
play produced of late. . . . The critics allow that 
Betterton has hit the humour of Falstaff better than 
any that have aimed at it before, . . . though he 
lacks the waggery of Estcourt, the drollery of 
Harper, and the salaciousness of Jack Evans.' 
(Genest, II. 381; V. 596.) Six notable Falstaffs in 
one generation is a record of which the seventeenth 
century may be proud. 

Betterton's acting version of the play was pub- 
lished in 1700. Genest notes that he 'judiciously 
retains' the conversation of Falstaff and the Prince 
in Act II, and also the first scene in Act III, 
although he omits the character of Lady Mortimer. 



King Henry the Fourth 139 

The obvious inference to be drawn from Genest's 
opening remark is indeed astounding, namely, that 
it had been the custom, before Betterton's time, to 
cut the great Boar's Head Tavern scene. But it 
was after Betterton's time that, according to Genest, 
a 'happy (sic) addition' was made to Falstaff's 
speech which begins 'By the Lord, I knew ye as 
well as he that made ye' by prefixing the question 
'Do ye think that I did not know ye?' This sin- 
gularly infelicitous addition to Shakespeare's text 
was retained by Sir Herbert Tree in his performance 
of the Boar's Head Tavern scene at the Shakespeare 
Tercentenary Festival in the New Amsterdam 
Theatre, New York, in April, 1916. 

Verbruggen was Betterton's Hotspur, and accord- 
ing to Genest (II. 381) he was 'nature without 
extravagance, and freedom without licentiousness, — 
he was vociferous without bellowing.' The inference 
to be drawn with respect to former performances is 
again interesting. 

Twenty other actors are known to have played 
Falstaff between 1700 and 1750, and the play-bills 
of twenty performances of Henry IV, Part I, between 
1706 and 1826 are in existence. Six of these per- 
formances were at the Haymarket, seven at Drury 
Lane, two at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and five at Covent 
Garden. 

Garrick first appeared as Hotspur at the Covent 
Garden performance in 1746, his great rival, Quin, 
appearing as Falstaff, a role in which he had made 
himself a great name eight years before. We are 
told that 'the advantage was greatly on Quin's side, 
as the part of Hotspur was not suited to Garrick's 
figure or style of acting/ 

Henderson was the great Falstaff of the latter half 
of the eighteenth century, and played at the Hay- 
market, Drury Lane, and Covent Garden. He is 
said to have made Falstaff 'neither very vulgar nor 



140 The First Part of 

very polite.' An entirely unique performance must 
have been that of 1786 when Mrs. Webb appeared 
as Falstaff in a 'benefit' for herself. 

In the 1824 production at Covent Garden, Charles 
Kemble appeared as Falstaff. 'He endeavored to 
rescue the part from coarseness. In the presence of 
the King and in the conversation with Westmoreland, 
he invested it with gentility and courtly bearing.' 
The Drury Lane production two years later was made 
notable by the appearance of Macready as Hotspur. 

A popular Falstaff of the early nineteenth century 
was Bartley, who made his first appearance in the 
role in 1815. 'His success was equal to his most 
sanguine expectations, and richly merited.' Bartley 
made a triumphal tour of America in 1818-1819, and 
gave instruction in reading and elocution in many 
American colleges. In 'Hertford,' the capital of 
Connecticut, he and his accomplished wife were 
arrested for indulging in dramatic readings, one 
Ebenezer Huntington, a Puritanical Attorney Gen- 
eral, having resurrected one of Connecticut's famous 
blue laws for this purpose. 

Since Bartley's farewell performance in 1852, there 
have been few revivals of Henry IV. For two cen- 
turies the play was revived in almost every decade; 
since 1850 it has been practically ignored. In recent 
years it has formed part of the repertoire of Sir 
Herbert Tree and of Sir Francis Benson's company 
at the Stratford Memorial Theatre. Miss Julia Mar- 
lowe appeared as Prince Hal in an abridgement of the 
two parts of the play in New York in 1895-1896, with 
William F. Owen as Falstaff. Professor Brander 
Matthews has recorded some excellent stage business 
of Owen's in an essay on Stage Traditions, published 
in Shakespearean Studies, Columbia University Press, 
1916. The play has been revived in England and 
America by University Dramatic Associations, at 
Cambridge in 1886 and at Yale in 1906. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I. Falstaff. 

1. Maurice Morgann: An Essay on the Dramatic 

Character of Sir John Falstaff. London, 1777. 

2. William Maginn: Shakespeare Papers. Falstaff. 

New York, 1856. 

3. E. E. Stoll: Falstaff. Modern Philology, Octo- 

ber, 1914. (Full of useful information, but 
a notable example of the insufficiency of mere 
"scientific" treatment of literature.) 

II. Prince Hal. 

1. A. C. Bradley: Oxford Lectures on Poetry. 
The Rejection of Falstaff. London, 1909. 

III. General Criticism. 

1. William Hazlitt: The Characters of Shakes- 

peare's Plays. London, 1817. 

2. Henry N. Hudson: Shakespeare, his Life, Art, 

and Characters. Boston, 1872. 

3. Edward Dowden: Shakespeare, a Critical Study. 

London, 1880. 

4. George Brandes: William Shakespeare. A 

Critical Study. Translated into English by 
William Archer. London, 1897. 

5. John Masefield: William Shakespeare. New 

York, 1911. 

6. Stopford Brooke: Ten More Plays of Shakes- 

peare. London, 1913. 

IV. Miscellaneous. 

1. Beverley E. Warner: English History in 

Shakespeare's Plays. New York, 1894. 

2. Brander Matthews: Stage Traditions in Shakes- 

peare Studies by the English Faculty of 
Columbia University. New York, 1916. 



INDEX OF WORDS GLOSSED 



(Figures in full-faced type refer to page-numbers) 



accidents: 12 (I. ii. 229) 
admiral: 73 (III. iii. 28) 
adopted: 99 (V. ii. 18) 
advantage: 56 (II. iv. 607) 
advertisement: 72 (III. ii. 

172); 81 (IV. i. 36) 
affections: 67 (III. ii. 30) 
albeit: 17 (I. iii. 128) 
All-hallown Summer: 10 (I. 

ii. 177) 
Amaimon: 48 (II. iv. 375) 
amaze: 105 (V. iv. 6) 
ancient: 86 (IV. ii. 26, 34) 
angel: 85 (IV. ii. 6) 
an if: 17 (I. iii. 125) 
antic: 7 (I. ii. 69) 
apple-john: 72 (III. iii. 5) 
appointment: 11 (I. ii. 196) 
apprehends: 20 (I. iii. 209) 
approve: 80 (IV. i. 9) 
approved: 3 (I. i. 54) 
arbitrement: 82 (IV. i. 70) 
argument: 31 (II. ii. 104) 
arras: 54 (II. iv. 557) 
art: 58 (III. i. 48) 
articulate: 96 (V. i. 72) 
aspects: 4 (I. i. 97) 
attended: 90 (IV. iii. 70) 
athwart: 2 (I. i. 36) 
attribution: 80 (IV. i. 3) 

bacons: 30 (II. ii. 99) 
baffle: 8 (I. ii. 113) 
baited: 83 (IV. i. 99) 
balk'd: 3 (I. i. 69) 
bands: 71 (III. ii. 157) 
basilisks: 34 (II. iii. 58) 
bastard: 37 (II. iv. 30) 
bastinado: 48 (II. iv. 375) 
bate: 72 (III. iii. 2) 



bavin: 68 (III. ii. 61) 
bawds: 5 (I. ii. 9) 
beaver: 84 (IV. i. 104) 
beguiling: 63 (III. i. 188) 
beholding: 27 (II. ii. 98) 
beldam: 57 (III. i. 32) 
bide the touch: 92 (IV. iv. 

10) 
blood: 63 (III. i. 180) 
blown: 87 (IV. ii. 54) 
blue-caps: 49 (II. iv. 397) 
Bolingbroke: 17 (I. iii. 137) 
bolters: 75 (III. iii. 81) 
bolting-hutch: 52 (II. iv. 

501) 
bombard: 52 (II. iv. 503) 
bombast: 48 (II. iv. 364) 
book: 64 (III. i. 224) 
bootless: 2 (I. i. 29); 59 

(III. i. 68) 
boots: 26 (II. i. 91) 
bots: 24 (II. i. 11) 
bottom: 60 (III. i. 106) 
brach: 65 (III. i. 240) 
brave: 7 (I. ii. 73) 
brawn: 40 (II. iv. 125) 
break with: 61 (III. i. 143) 
brewer's horse: 73 (III. iii. 

10) 
brief: 92 (IV. iv. 1) 
bring in: 6 (I. ii. 41) 
broached: 95 (V. i. 21) 
buckler: 21 (I. iii. 230) 
buckram: 11 (I. ii. 200) 
buff jerkin: 6 (I. ii. 48) 
busky: 94 (V. i. 2) 

caddis: 39 (II. iv. 80) 
caliver: 86 (IV. ii. 21) 



King Henry the Fourth 



143 



Cambyses: 50 (II. iv. 430) 
camomile: 51 (II. iv. 446) 
candy: 21 (I. iii. 251) 
canker: 19 (I. iii. 176); 86 

(IV. ii. 32) 
canker'cl: 17 (I. iii. 137) 
canstick: 61 (III. i. 130) 
cantle: 60 (III. i. 101) 
capital: 70 (III. ii. 110) 
capitulate: 70 (III. ii. 120) 
carbonado: 105 (V. iii. 60) 
carded: 68 (III. ii. 62) 
cart: 54 (II. iv. 554) 
case: 29 (II. ii. 58) 
cases: 11 (I. ii. 200) 
cates: 62 (III. i. 162) 
cess: 24 (II. i. 8) 
chamberlain: 25 (II. i. 52) 
chamber-lie: 24 (II. i. 23) 
changing: 16 (I. iii. 101) 
channel: 1 (I. i. 7) 
charge: 2 (I. i. 35); 25 (II. 

i. 51); 60 (III. i. 113) 
charge of foot: 56 (II. iv. 

604) 
Charing-cross: 24 (II. i. 28) 
Charles' wain: 23 (II. i. 2) 
cheap: 74 (III. iii. 51) 
chewet: 95 (V. i. 29) 
chides: 58 (III. i. 45) 
choler: 17 (I. iii. 129) 
chops: 10 (I. ii. 150) 
chuffs: 30 (II. ii. 98) 
cital: 101 (V. ii. 61) 
clerks: 26 (II. i. 67) 
clipp'd in: 58 (III. i. 44) 
cloak-bag: 52 (II. iv. 503) 
close: 1 (I. i. 13); 27 (II. 

ii. 4) 
cloudy: 69 (III. ii. 83) 
colour: 16 (I. iii. 109); 69 

(III. ii. 100) 
colt: 29 (II. ii. 43) 
comfit-maker: 65 (III. i. 



commodity: 8 (I. ii. 93); 
(IV. ii. 19) 



community: 69 (III. ii. 77) 
comparative: 8 (I. ii. 90) ; 

68 (III. ii. 67) 
concealments: 62 (III. i. 

166) 
condition: 13 (I. iii. 6) 
conduct: 60 (III. i. 93) 
confound: 16 (I. iii. 100) 
conjunction: 81 (IV. i. 37) 
contagious: 12 (I. ii. 220) 
continent: 60 (III. i. Ill) 
contracted: 85 (IV. ii. 17) 
Corinthian: 36 (II. iv. 13) 
corrival: 20 (I. iii. 207) 
countenance: 6 (I. ii. 33) 
cousin: 23 (I. iii. 293) 
coz: 4 (I. i. 91) 
cozeners: 21 (I. iii. 255) 
cozening: 9 (I. ii. 135) 
crack'd crowns: 35 (II. iii. 

98) 
cranking: 60 (III. i. 99) 
cressets: 57 (III. i. 15) 
crisp: 16 (I. iii. 106) 
cry you mercy: 87 (IV. ii. 

58) 
current: 25 (II. i. 59); 80 

(IV. i. 5) 
currents: 34 (II. iii. 60) 
curst: 33 (II. iii. 51) 
cushes: 84 (IV. i. 105) 
Cut: 24 (II. i. 6) 

daff'd: 83 (IV. i. 96) 
damnable iteration: 8 (I. ii. 

101) 
dangerous: 96 (V. i. 69) 
dank: 24 (II. i. 9) 
deal: 21 (I. iii. 251) 
dear: 2 (I. i. 33); 93 (IV. 

iv. 31) ; 109 (V. iv. 95) 
dearest: 63 (III. i. 181); 

113 (V. v. 36) 
defend: 89 (IV. iii. 38) 
defy: 21 (I. iii. 228); 80 

(IV. i. 6) 
deliver'd: 14 (I. iii. 26) 



144 



The First Part of 



denier: 75 (III. iii. 90) 
devis'd: 67 (III. ii. 23) 
dial's point: 102 (V. ii. 83) 
Diana's: 6 (I. ii. 29) 
disdain'd: 19 (I. iii. 183) 
disputation: 64 (III. i. 205) 
distemperature: 94 (V. i. 3) 
Dives: 73 (III. iii. 36) 
division: 64 (III. i. 210) 
dole: 30 (II. ii. 84) 
doom: 66 (III. ii. 6) 
dowlas: 75 (III. iii. 79) 
draff: 86 (IV. ii. 38) 
draws: 82 (IV. i. 73) 
drawers: 36 (II. iv. 7) 
drawn fox: 76 (III. iii. 128) 
drench: 40 (II. iv. 122) 
drum: 80 (III. iii. 228) 
durance: 6 (I. ii. 49) 
duties: 101 (V. ii. 55) 

Earl of March: 15 (I. iii. 

84) 
Eastcheap: 9 (I. ii. 144) 
ecce signum: 42 (II. iv. 190) 
ell: 75 (III. iii. 83) 
embossed: 78 (III. iii. 176) 
embowell'd: 109 (V. iv. 109) 
enfeoff'd: 68 (III. ii. 69) 
engag'd: 91 (IV. iii. 95) 
engross up: 71 (III. ii. 148) 
enlarged: 70 (III. ii. 115) 
enlargement: 57 (III. i. 31) 
Esperance: 34 (II. iii. 76) 
estimation: 22 (I. iii. 272); 

93 (IV. iv. 32) 
estridges: 83 (IV. i. 98) 
even: 23 (I. iii. 286) 
exhal'd: 94 (V. i. 19) 
exhalations: 48 (II. iv. 357) 
expedience: 2 (I. i. 33) 

face: 96 (V. i. 74) 

faced ancient: 86 (IV. ii. 

34) 
factor: 71 (III. ii. 147) 
fall off: 16 (I. iii. 94) 



fat room: 36 (II. iv. 1) 
favours: 71 (III. ii. 136); 

109 (V. iv. 96) 
fearful: 82 (IV. i. 67) 
fernseed: 27 (II. i. 96) 
figures: 20 (I. iii. 209) 
Finsbury: 65 (III. i. 256) 
flocks: 24 (II. i. 7) 
fobbed: 7 (I. ii. 68) 
foot of fear: 112 (V. v. 20) 
foot-land-rakers: 26 (II. i. 

81) 
forward: 29 (II. ii. 53) 
found me: 13 (I. iii. 3) 
franklin: 25 (II. i. 60) 
frontier: 13 (I. iii. 19); 33 

(II. iii. 57) 
furnish'd: 83 (IV. i. 97); 

103 (V. iii. 21) 
furniture: 79 (III. iii. 



Gadshill: 9 (I. ii. 118) 
gage: 19 (I. iii. 173) 
gelding: 60 (III. i. Ill) 
gentlemen of the shade: 6 

(I. ii. 29) 
gib cat: 7 (I. ii. 83) 
give leave: 66 (III. ii. 1) 
God save the mark: 15 (I. 

iii. 56) 
gorbellied: 30 (II. ii. 97) 
government: 63 (III. i. 183) 
grace: 5 (I. ii. 19) 
grief: 14 (I. iii. 51) 
gull: 96 (V. i. 60) 
gummed velvet: 27 (II. ii. 

3) 
gyves: 86 (IV. ii. 44) 

habits: 11 (I. ii. 195) 
hair: 82 (IV. i. 61) 
half-fac'd: 20 (I. iii. 208) 
Half-moon: 37 (II. iv. 30) 
half-sword: 42 (II. iv. 185) 
happily: 23 (I. iii. 298) 
happy man be his dole: 30 

(II. ii. 84) 
hardiment: 16 (I. iii. 101) 



King Henry the Fourth 



145 



hare: 8 (I. ii. 87) 

harlotry: 50 (II. iv. 442); 

63 (III. i. 198) 
harness: 69 (III. ii. 101) 
Harry Percy: 3 (I. i. 53) 
hazard: 17 (I. iii. 128) 
head: 23 (I. iii. 285); 92 

(IV. iii. 103) 
heady: 34 (II. iii. 60) 
hearken'd for: 107 (V. iv. 

52) 
hest: 34 (II. iii. 67) 
highly penn'd: 64 (III. i. 

208) 
hind: 32 (II. iii. 18) 
hitherto: 59 (III. i. 75) 
holds current: 25 (II. i. 59) 
holiday terms: 14 (I. iii. 46) 
holland: 75 (III. iii. 82) 
Holy-rood day: 3 (I. i. 52) 
hot in question: 2 (I. i. 34) 
humour: 12 (I. ii. 218); 52 

(II. iv. 501) 
humorous: 65 (III. i. 234) 
Hybla: 6 (I. ii. 47) 
Hydra's: 106 (V. iv. 25) 

ignis fatuus: 74 (III. iii. 
"45) 

images: 83 (IV. i. 100) 
impeach: 15 (I. iii. 75) 
impressed: 2 (I. i. 21) 
indent: 16 (I. iii. 87) 
indentures: 59 (III. i. 81) 
indirect: 92 (IV. iii. 105) 
induction: 56 (III. i. 2) 
injuries: 78 (III. iii. 181) 
innovation: 96 (V. i. 78) 
intelligence: 91 (IV. iii. 98) 
interchangeably: 59 (III. i. 

82) 
interest: 69 (III. ii. 98) 
intestine: 1 (I. i. 12) 
irregular: 2 (I. i. 40) 
iteration: 8 (I. ii. 101) 

Jordan: 24 (II. i. 22) 



journey-bated: 89 (IV. iii. 

26) 
jumps: 7 (I. ii. 78) 
jure: 31 (II. ii. 101) 
justling: 81 (IV. i. 18) 

Kendal-green: 44 (II. iv. 

250) 
kept: 21 (I. iii. 244) 
kind: 17 (I. iii. 121) 
king christen: 24 (II. i. 19) 
king's press: 85 (IV. ii. 13) 
knotty-pated : 44 (II. iv. 

255) 

lad of the castle: 6 (I. ii. 47) 
lady terms: 14 (I. iii. 46) 
Lancaster: 57 (III. i. 8) 
lay by: 6 (I. ii. 40) 
Lazarus: 86 (IV. ii. 27) 
leading: 89 (IV. iii. 17) 
leaping-houses : 5 (I. ii. 10) 
leash: 36 (II. iv. 7) 
leg: 50 (II. iv. 432) 
lett'st slip: 22 (I. iii. 279) 
liking: 72 (III. iii. 6) 
line: 18 (I. iii. 168); 35 (II. 

iii. 88) 
links: 74 (III. iii. 48) 
liquored: 27 (II. i. 94) 
list: 82 (IV. i. 51) 
livery: 90 (IV. iii. 62) 
loach: 24 (II. i. 23) 
long-staff sixpenny strikers: 

26 (II. i. 82) 
lugged bear: 7 (I. ii. 83) 
lustier: 106 (V. iv. 22) 
Maid Marian: 76 (III. iii. 

128) 
main: 82 (IV. i. 47) 
mainly: 43 (II. iv. 226) 
major: 54 (II. iv. 552) 
majority: 70 (III. ii. 109) 
makes an angel: 85 (IV. ii. 

6) 
make up: 105 (V. iv. 5) 
mak'st some tender: 107 (V. 

iv. 49) 



146 



The First Part of 



malevolent: 4 (I. i. 97) 
mammets: 35 (II. iii. 97) 
manage: 33 (II. iii. 54) 
Manningtree: 52 (II. iv. 

504) 
marks: 26 (II. i. 61) 
Marry: 5 (I. ii. 26) 
match: 39 (II. iv. 102) 
match'd: 3 (Li. 49) 
medicines: 28 (II. ii. 20) 
memento mori: 73 (III. iii. 

35) 
Michaelmas: 38 (II. iv. 59) 
micher: 51 (II. iv. 455) 
milliner: 14 (I. iii. 36) 
mincing: 61 (III. i. 133) 
minion: 4 (I. i. 83); 6 (I. 

ii. 30) 
misprision: 14 (I. iii. 27) 
moe: 93 (IV. iv. 31) 
moiety: 60 (III. i. 97) 
moldwarp: 61 (III. i. 148) 
moody: 13 (I. iii. 19) 
Moor-ditch: 8 (I. ii. 88) 
Mordake: 3 (I. i. 71) 
more and less: 90 (IV. iii. 

68) 
Mortimer: 2 (Li. 38) 
murd'rous subornation: 18 

(I. iii. 163) 
mustachio-purple-hued malt 

worms: 26 (II. i. 83) 
mutual well-beseeming 

ranks: 1 (I. i. 14) 

neat's-tongue: 45 (II. iv. 

275) 
nether: 51 (II. iv. 451) 
nether-stocks: 40 (II. iv. 

132) 
Newgate: 76 (III. iii. 103) 
next: 24 (II. i. 10) 
nice: 82 (IV. i. 48) 
nonce: 11 (I. ii. 200) 
noted: 11 (I. ji. 201) 
not-pated: 38 (II. iv. 79) 

ob.: 56 (II. iv. 598) 



obedient orb: 94 (V. i. 17) 
offering side: 82 (IV. i. 69) 
oneyers: 26 (II. i. 85) 
opinion: 63 (III. i. 184); 67 

(III. ii. 42); 83 (IV. i. 

77) 
opposed continent: 60 (III. 

i. Ill) 
ought: 77 (III. iii. 151) 
out-faced: 45 (II. iv. 287) 
owe: 101 (V. ii. 67) 

paid: 43 (II. iv. 217) 
painted cloth: 86 (IV. ii. 

28) 
palisadoes: 33 (II. iii. 57) 
parcel: 40 (II. iv. 115) 
parmaceti: 15 (I. iii. 58) 
participation: 69 (III. ii. 

87) 
Partlet: 74 (III. iii. 60) 
passages of life: 66 (III. ii. 

8) 
passion: 50 (II. iv. 430); 58 

(III. i. 35) 
Paul's: 55 (II. iv. 583) 
peach: 29 (II. ii. 50) 
peppercorn: 72 (III. iii. 9) 
personal: 91 (IV. iii. 88) 
pierce: 105 (V. iii. 58) 
pismires: 21 (I. iii. 240) 
play: 36 (II. iv. 18) 
point: 24 (II. i. 7) 
points: 44 (II. iv. 242) 
Pomgarnet: 37 (II. iv. 42) 
popinjay: 14 (I. iii. 50) 
popularity: 68 (III. ii. 69) 
portly: 13 (I. iii. 13) 
possess'd: 81 (IV. i. 40) 
possession: 67 (III. ii. 43) 
pouncet-box: 14 (I. iii. 38) 
powder: 109 (V. iv. 112) 
precedent: 37 (II. iv. 37) 
predicament: 18 (I. iii. 

168) 
present: 63 (III. i. 182) 



King Henry the Fourth 



147 



present want: 81 (IV. i. 

44) 
presently: 66 (III. ii. 3) 
prodigals: 86 (IV. ii. 37) 
profited: 62 (III. i. 165) 
proof: 30 (II. ii. 75) 
puke: 38 (II. iv. 79) 
pupil age: 40 (II. iv. 107) 
purchase: 27 (II. i. 101) 
push: 68 (III. ii. 66) 

quality: 89 (IV. iii. 36) 
question: 2 (I. i. 34) 
quiddities: 6 (I. ii. 51) 
quips: 6 (I. ii. 51) 
quit: 67 (III. ii. 19) 

range: 18 (I. iii. 169) 
rated: 91 (IV. iii. 99); 93 

(IV. iv. 17) 
razes: 24 (II. i. 27) 
read: 58 (III. i. 46) 
reasons: 45 (II. iv. 268) 
receipt of fernseed: 27 (II. 

i. 96) 
reckoning: 40 (II. iv. 115) 
red-breast teacher: 66 (III. 

i. 263) 
reprisal: 84 (IV. i. 118) 
reproof: 12 (I. ii. 212); 67 

(III. ii. 23) 
resolution: 7 (I. ii. 67) 
respect: 89 (IV. iii. 31) 
retires: 33 (II. iii. 56) 
Rivo: 40 (II. iv. 126) 
roundly: 5 (I. ii. 24) 
royal: 47 (II. iv. 325) 

sack: 5 (I. ii. 3) 
St. Nicholas: 26 (II. i. 67) 
salamander: 74 (III. iii. 53) 
sanguine: 45 (II. iv. 272) 
sarcenet: 65 (III. i. 255) 
saving your reverence: 53 

(II. iv. 522) 
'Sblood: 7 (I. ii. 82) 
scope: 62 (III. i. 170) 



scot and lot: 109 (V. iv. 

115) 
Scroop: 22 (I. iii. 271) 
scutcheon: 98 (V. i. 143) 
sembably furnish'd: 103 (V. 

iii. 21) 
set a match: 9 (I. ii. 118) 
set off his head: 97 (V. i. 

88) 
setter: 29 (II. ii. 56) 
shadow of succession: 69 

(III. ii. 99) 
shape of likelihood: 3 (I. i. 

58) 
shot-free: 104 (V. iii. 30) 
shotten herring: 41 (II. iv. 

145) 
sinew: 93 (IV. iv. 17) 
sirrah: 11 (I. ii. 199) 
skimble-skamble: 62 (III. i. 

153) 
slip: (I. iii. 179) 
smug: 60 (III. i. 103) 
sneak-cup: 75 (III. iii. 98) 
snuff: 14 (I. iii. 41) 
soothers: 80 (IV. i. 7) 
soused gurnet: 85 (IV. ii. 

13) 
sovereign'st: 15 (I. iii. 57) 
Spanish-pouch: 39 (II. iv. 

80) 
speed: 63 (III. i. 189) 
spleen: 34 (II. iii. 83) 
squire: 28 (II. ii. 14) 
stand the push: 68 (III. ii. 

66) 
standing-tuck: 45 (II. iv. 

278) 
starling: 20 (I. iii. 224) 
start of spleen: 70 (III. ii. 

125) 
starting-hole: 46 (II. iv. 

295) 
state: 50 (II. iv. 421) 
stay: 22 (I. iii. 258); 88 

(IV. ii. 84) 
still: 22 (I. iii. 279) 



148 



The First Part of 



stock-fish: 45 (II. iv. 275) 
stole: 68 (III. ii. 50) 
stomach: 33 (II. iii. 46) 
stout: 109 (V. iv. 93) 
straight: 17 (I. iii. 126) 
strait: 91 (IV. iii. 79) 
strappado: 45 (II. iv. 266) 
stronds: 1 (I. i. 4) 
subornation: 18 (I. iii. 163) 
sue his livery: 90 (IV. iii. 

62) 
sufferances: 95 (V. i. 51) 
suggestion: 90 (IV. iii. 51) 
suits: 7 (I. ii. 81) 
sullen: 12 (I. ii. 234) 
summer-house: 62 (III. i. 

163) 
Sutton-Co'nl': 85 (IV. ii. 3) 
sword and buckler: 21 (I. 

iii. 230) 

tailor: 66 (III. i. 263) 
take it upon: 36 (II. iv. 9) 
take me with you: 53 (II. 

iv. 513) 
taken with the manner: 47 

(II. iv. 350) 
tall: 15 (I. iii. 62) 
tallow-ketch: 44 (II. iv. 

256) 
target: 43 (II. iv. 228) 
task me to my word: 80 

(IV. i. 9) 
task'd: 91 (IV. iii. 92) 
tasking: 100 (V. ii. 50) 
tench: 24 (II. i. 17) 
termagant: 109 (V. iv. 114) 
tickle-brain: 50 (II. iv. 443) 
time: 67 (III. ii. 36) 
tinker: 37 (II. iv. 21) 
Titan: 41 (II. iv. 135) 
toss: 87 (IV. ii. 72) 
trace: 58 (III. i. 48) 
trenching: 1 (I. i. 7) 
trim: 84 (IV. i. 113) 



tristful: 50 (II. iv. 439) 
Troyans: 26 (II. i. 77) 
trunk of humours: 52 (II. 

iv. 501) 
Turk Gregory: 104 (V. iii. 

46) 

underskinker: 37 (II. iv. 26) 
uneven: 3 (I. i. 50) 
unsorted: 32 (II. iii. 15) 
unwashed: 79 (III. iii. 205) 
unyok'd: 12 (I. ii. 218) 
uttered: 4 (Li. 107) 

valued: 72 (III. ii. 177) 
vassal: 70 (III. ii. 124) 
velvet-guards: 65 (III. i. 

260) 
vile: 69 (III. ii. 87) 
virtue: 41 (II. iv. 134) 
vizards: 9 (I. ii. 141) 

wait on us: 97 (V. i. Ill) 
want: 81 (IV. i. 44) 
wanton: 64 (III. i. 214) 
wanton time: 95 (V. i. 50) 
wards: 12 (I. ii. 211) 
warm: 86 (IV. ii. 19) 
watering: 36 (II. iv. 17) 
weaver: 41 (II. iv. 149) 
well-respected: 88 (IV. iii. 

10) 
Welsh hook: 48 (II. iv. 378) 
whoreson: 30 (II. ii. 92) 
wild: 25 (II. i. 60) 
wilful-blame: 62 (III. i. 

176) 
wind: 84 (IV. i. 109) 
withers: 24 (II. i. 8) 
worship: 71 (III. ii. 151) 
wrung: 24 (II. i. 8) 

yeoman's: 85 (IV. ii. 16) 
York: 21 (I. iii. 245) 
younker: 75 (III. iii. 91) 

'Zounds: 8 (I. ii. 112) 



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